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In addition to strong organizational opposition to a proposed Terrebonne Parish school tax increase, education officials got a ground-level thrashing from two taxpayers attending last month’s school board meeting.
Two Terrebonne Parish residents came forward to voice their concerns over the proposed 30-mill increase that will be on the May 4 ballot.
“I’m 80 years old, and I’m taxed out,” said Houma resident Floyd Bergeron. “The water tax is about to go up, too.”
Those wishing to speak at the meetings have five minutes to give an opinion regarding recommendations on the agenda, and Bergeron cited a previous list of mils that did not pass, including a millage for the Council on Aging.
School board member Roosevelt Thomas reined Bergeron in when he began to address a situation at a local pharmacy.
“We are not here to talk about things at a pharmacy,” Thomas said.
“We need more money for teacher’s aides?” Bergeron continued. “What, teachers can’t teach without an aide now? Take the aide out of the classroom and just give the teacher a raise. I went to school in Bayou Blue, and my teacher taught first, second, third, fourth and fifth grade. If the teachers can’t teach by themselves, we need to get rid of them. We need to get what we are paying for.”
Ernest Parra, the second resident to speak, chose to back his argument against the proposed mill with figures.
“This is a good wish list, but the tooth fairy is going to have problems filling it,” Parra said. “The net asset value of all property in this parish is $97 million, and, if this mill passes, it will generate $25 million a year for the school board. This is not St. Tammany Parish. This is Terrebonne Parish. The poor and the minorities who live in rental properties are going to feel this drastically.”
Parra hinted that he thought the school board was not publicizing the proposed mill in a bid to get only a few, pro-mill voters to the polls.
“You want a low turnout for this,” he said. “I want a large turnout … The largest taxpayer in this parish is going to see their taxes go up $1 million a year. I’ll take the rest of my argument to the newspapers.”
Both men left the meeting immediately after standing at the podium, and school board members were quick to deconstruct the speakers’ opinions.
“Even if the new mill, passes, we will still be the lowest education mill in the region and we have one of the largest school districts,” said Superintendent Philip Martin. “We are not even in the race right now. We are doing well because of our teachers and employees. We are the 45th parish in the state for teacher pay. We are not interested in pay raises for the board. Every part of this proposed mill is about the kids.”
Board president Roger Dehart tackled Parra’s assumption that the school board was trying to keep the mill under wraps by listing more than a dozen mill-related meetings the board has had in the last nine months.
“We began discussing this project in June 2012, after facing four years of cuts from the state,” Dehart said. “We knew that we needed to seek future revenue. Louisiana is the last state in the country in terms of education, and we are one of the last parishes in the state (for mills), so we are last in the whole country. We have had low attendance at meetings where the mill was discussed and little to no input from the public.”
Board member Gregory Harding addressed Bergeron’s comments on other failed mills and defended the parish’s teachers as they work to meet educational challenges in today’s world as opposed to those teachers faced 60 years ago.
“None of the mills Mr. Bergeron discussed were proposed by us,” Harding said. “This is the first mill we have proposed in years, and we are looking for public opinions. We want to know what we can do different. These gentleman had nothing but negative things to say.”
“We need teacher’s aides,” he continued. “Times have changed. In the 1940s, there were no air conditioners and televisions in classrooms, and there was no ADHD or 504 (a mental impairment). These aides are helping teachers because children with ADHD and 504 are in the same classes with children who do not have ADHD and 504. These teachers need assistance. We are not trying to be No. 1. We’re just trying to get to the middle.”
Board members L.P. Bordelon and Donald Duplantis kept their comments very brief.
“There are 19,000 reasons (students) to support the mill,” Bordelon said. “One of the men who spoke lives down the road from me.”
“This is going to cost me $400 a year,” Duplantis said. “I don’t mind paying. I don’t know those two men and don’t want to speak ill of them, but they need to be educated.”
Of the six board members present at the meeting, only one commented that the goals of the proposed mill need to be made clearer.
“I fully support the mill,” said school board member Debi Benoit. “We may need to take a look at the work that needs to be done on school buildings and at how we will handle teacher’s raises. I don’t like blanket raises. The raises need to be more merit-based. I’m not opposed to giving some teachers more than a $4,000 raise.”
Benoit hopes that more people will turn out to school board meetings between now and May 4, and that further discussions will yield a better understanding of what the board is trying to accomplish and what the taxpayer’s concerns are.
“We sound like congress a bit here, preaching to the public and the public is preaching back to us,” she said. “We need to come together, maybe form a blue ribbon committee (of taxpayers). We can’t keep preaching to each other and not understanding each other.”
Tiffany Lucas, a third grade teacher at Bayou Black Elementary School, hands out a test to her class. If the school board millage on the May 4 ballot passes, Bayou Black Elementary will be consolidated with Greenwood Elementary School and Gibson Elementary School.
