$155.5 million budget approved for ’08-09

The Lafourche Parish School Board unanimously passed the $155.5 million budget for the 2008-09 year last Wednesday.

The budget rose by more than $6 million over the school year, despite having 103 fewer students.

“Our budget is on target with the goals we set for educating our students,” said School Superintendent Jo Ann Matthews.

“The biggest part of that is the MFP (Minimum Foundation Program) increase which covered the mandated state salary adjustments,” said Business Manager Don Gaudet.

Those salary adjustments include $1,019 for certified personnel and a 1.5 percent raise for all employees. Support staff also received a one-time $1,000 payment.

That is besides salary and benefits, which comprise $115.1 million of the budget.

The biggest changes to this year’s budget are for more band instruction, creating a position for a coordinator of guidance counselors and to begin staffing the Career and Technical Center, according to Gaudet.

The coordinator of guidance counselors would be responsible for training and evaluation of counselors throughout the school system.

The Career and Technical Center will be for any student interested in learning a vocation.

“Those kids who are not going to get a traditional diploma can get a marketable skill and also try to earn their GED,” Gaudet said. “There will be kids that follow a traditional path to a diploma but also want to take some career courses.”

“We haven’t even bought the land for it yet, but we anticipate it opening by the 2010 school year,” Gaudet said.

During the regular meeting, the school board approved advertising the purchase of $20 million in general obligation school bonds.

The money raised from the bond sale would be used to begin constructing the Career and Technical Center and a 27-classroom facility on the Thibodaux Elementary School campus.

New Orleans attorney Hugh Martin, of Foley & Judell, L.L.P. stated that general obligation bonds are considered safe even during economically hard times.

“During the Great Depression, we had no general obligation bonds in Louisiana go into default,” he said. “Not even in the smallest municipalities.”

“We know there is uncertainty in the bond market, but we’re going to go ahead and put it out,” Gaudet said. “If the results come back that we don’t like, we’re just going to reject them.”

In 2006, Lafourche voters approved a $48 million bonding referendum for school improvements. Last year, the school board sold $10 million of those bonds to start projects, according to Gaudet.

In the current economic environment, Matthews is carefully watching to ensure budget funds are secure. She is also concerned about the state’s retirement structure and the Louisiana Asset Management Pool, which invest funds for public entities.

“We want to make sure our funding remains intact because we also deal with a retirement system that is invested in different things,” Matthews said. “In the past, the Louisiana state retirement system made some bad investments and they spread their issues across various parishes.”