Lafourche schools take $200,000 from $1.04M fund

The Lafourche Parish School Board unanimously agreed last week to take about $200,000 from its Education Excellence Fund to offset the shortfall for 2011 summer school and remediation programs.

As part of the Louisiana Legislature’s 1999 “Millennium Trust,” The Education Excellence Fund stemmed from the revenue the state collected from the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

In the agreement, 46 states, including Louisiana, exempted tobacco companies from private tort liability for harm caused by tobacco use in exchange for annual payments to compensate for some of the medical costs of caring for people with smoking-related illnesses.

Louisiana allocated each parish a set amount of money to be used only for instructional enhancements for students, including early childhood education programs focused on enhancing the preparation of at-risk children for school, remedial instruction and assistance to children who fail to achieve the required scores on any tests or other educational programs approved by the legislature.

Falling under the remedial instruction guideline, Lafourche Parish will take about $200,000 from its $1.04 million fund in order to afford 2011 summer school and remediation programs.

“The state has put in less and less money for programs such as summer school, so this year coming up, in order to be able to fund summer school, we’ll have to use some of the prior balance,” said Don Gaudet, Lafourche Parish Public School’s business manager.

The Education Excellence Fund is protected by the state Constitution, and is not subject to budget cuts.

“The only way to change it is from a vote by the people,” said Gaudet.

However, most sources of school funding aren’t protected. Gaudet expects Lafourche schools will likely need to dip into the fund again next year if the state budget constraints remain.

“It’s not going to last forever. At $200,000 a pop, it’s only going to last five years,” said Gaudet of the fund.