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Lafourche Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle is fulfilling a campaign promise to donate some of his salary to local students.
Last week Cantrelle announced he would use the portion of his salary he received as a raise to pay for three yearly scholarships to Lafourche High School students headed to Nicholls State University or Fletcher Technical Community College. The scholarships are provided through the T.J. Cantrelle Foundation, a non-profit Cantrelle and his family started in honor of his late grandson.
Cantrelle said he thinks the scholarships will be a good use of the raise for the parish president.
“I promised to the people of Lafourche that I would donate the raise portion of my salary to a worthwhile cause, and helping to educate the youth and future of our parish is a good way to do it,” Cantrelle said.
Cantrelle’s foundation will provide $500 scholarships at the beginning of both the fall and spring semesters to three students, total $1,000 for each student. Principals from all three public parish high schools and E.D. White Catholic High School will each nominate three students from moderate- to low-income families for the scholarships. According to the announcement, a student must be a Lafourche resident, attend Nicholls or Fletcher and maintain at least a 2.8 grade point average while there. Cantrelle said students who received the award can apply for it again the following year. He said the foundation would choose one student from Districts 1-3, one from Districts 4-6 and one from Districts 7-9 so the entire parish is represented in the winners.
Cantrelle said the scholarships are as important as ever for Lafourche’s future as higher education costs have continued to rise.
“Every little bit counts. When you go to school, it’s very expensive today. Every little bit would help,” Cantrelle said.
The previous Lafourche Parish Council agreed to give pay raises to council members and the parish president in 2014, with the raises taking effect starting with the new administration in 2016.
The council voted to change the parish president’s salary calculation to an average of the parish’s sheriff, clerk of court and assessor’s salaries.
In 2015, Parish President Charlotte Randolph received almost $75,000 in salary, according to budget documents.
After the new pay structure was put in place, Cantrelle received more than $122,000 this year. However, Cantrelle’s salary in 2017 is set to be more than $142,000 because of a miscalculation in 2016, according to him.
Cantrelle promised while campaigning that he would not accept the pay raise if elected parish president. While the $3,000 in scholarships the foundation will dole out next year is nowhere near the total amount of the raise Cantrelle received in 2016, he said he is using the rest of the money to build up the scholarship values and number of scholarships.
According to Cantrelle, he would like to pool his raise money with that of donations to the scholarship fund from sponsors and invest the money, using the investment revenues to pay for scholarships in perpetuity. Cantrelle said he would ultimately like to give out four-year scholarships to three students each year, meaning there would be 12 current recipients at any one time. •
