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Terrebonne Parish schools have accomplished so much with nothing, the system’s chief says, that with a little extra cash, the sky is the limit.
As he charts the future of the school district, Superintendent Philip Martin is hoping taxpayers will agree, and allow students and staff the extra boost that a proposed property tax increase could bring.
Voters will make their decision May 4.
“We are in a competitive society,” Martin said, stressing that he wants every tool at his disposal to allow Terrebonne students to compete in the bigger world that exists beyond graduation. “At the heart of every community, whether you have a child in school or do not, the health and vibrancy of the public education system impacts everyone. It is to the benefit of all community members regardless of what segment you may be from.”
For years, Terrebonne did not seek greater tax revenue, even though other school systems did.
“I can’t tell you why we didn’t, it was before my watch,” Martin said during an interview in his office last week. “But we need to do it now.”
The school district is seeking a 31-mill increase from taxpayers, above the 9.27 mills now assessed.
According to Martin, that comes to about $77 per year for a home assessed at $100,000.
“More than 40 percent of homeowners in Terrebonne are completely homestead exempt, which means they don’t pay any property tax at all,” Martin notes.
The increase would bring the Terrebonne system up to the state average of 40.5 mills. Terrebonne schools, right now, have the lowest per-student expenditure in the state.
“All we want is to see our schools hit the average,” Martin said.
His pitch is passionate, and he has begun to bring it to the people at service club meetings. He welcomes parents or anyone else in the parish to come to him with ideas of how they wish to see the money spent.
So far, the plan is for a split of how the money is used. A total of 11 mills would be used for new schools, and to renovate or remodel existing structures.
“We have buildings in this system that are more than 40 years old,” Martin said.
The remaining 20 mills of the new tax would be used for a universal pre-kindergarten program, addressing school security issues, a “Success is Required” program Martin says will reduce underachievement, expansion of art, music and physical education at the elementary level, and a program that will move teacher salaries closer to the state average, along with differential pay for effective teachers.
The school system, Martin says, has already demonstrated what it can do.
Student achievement scores are the 12th fastest growing in the state over the past four years, he said, with an average score level of 104.6, compared to a state average of 100.5.
Keeping up with the Joneses, however, is not what motivates Martin in his quest.
A steady decline in other funding sources, according to the school superintendent, is what has made the search for money necessary.
State funding has not increased in four years. New state laws and requirements have required extra expenditures, including differential pay and common core state standards.
“There is a need to provide greater academic opportunities for students, and for a broader based curriculum in lower grades,” said Martin.
So far, there is no recorded opposition to the increase, although Martin and other supporters of the increase are certain opposition will become evident.
He is hopeful that parents of students attending private schools will keep in mind that the public school system operates the buses that bring their children to classes.
As for people with no children in the system, Martin said, the importance of well-educated students cannot be underestimated in the community at large.
For some homeowners, the increase could be a hard sell.
The potential of a new water millage, also on the May 4 ballot, is also in the offing.
Retiree Judy Smart of Houma said that if both millages pass, her property taxes will increase by amounts which, for her, would be onerous.
“That would bring the total taxes due to just under half of my net retirement check,” she said, noting that despite the hardship that might result, she is still studying the proposal as well as the water millage plan. “I do not want to be someone who does not support education.”
Students in Kathy Abboud’s fourth grade class at Southdown Elementary use their classroom’s Smart Report System to particpate in an English lesson.
