I’m voting YES and YES

I don’t like politics.

No, wait, let me say that again. I hate politics – with a capital H.

I don’t know why. I can’t really explain it, but my mind has always just sort of zoned out into outer space anytime I’ve been in the middle of a discussion with someone about Democrats, Republicans, foreign policy and all of the other elements that make our governments work.

That disdain for all things political is actually why I got so attracted to sports at such a young age. For me, sports were an outlet – a way to tune out the things going on in the world and relax and watch pure, clean competition.

But today, I’m going to buck the norm and write my column about a political issue that’s going to play itself out over the next few weeks in my native Lafourche Parish.

Some of it pertains to sports, but some of it doesn’t, and I apologize for crossing the line and getting a little philosophical into my sports page, which I’ve tried to keep clear of political stories in my eight years with this paper.

But sometimes, it’s important to stand up for what I believe is right, and being blessed with this platform will allow me to reach a lot of people and share my thoughts on a polarizing issue.

So with that said, I just wanted to publicly say that as a native and lifelong resident of Lafourche Parish, I will be voting yes to the school system’s millage renewal and yes to a proposal that would raise taxes by one cent to offset the school system’s budget deficit, while also giving teachers a pay hike.

Now, let me explain why – a lot of it has to do with what I specialized in, which, of course, is sports.

The millage renewal isn’t a new tax. It’s been on the books for a while.

The money goes to school facilities upgrades in the parish. When a new school needs to be built or renovated, the money is pooled from that millage, and so on and so forth.

It’s necessary. The school system in Lafourche Parish is a huge entity. There’s always something that needs to be built or tweaked, and it’s good to have that money on-hand to fund the projects.

This time around, the School Board has vowed, if passed, to use the millage money to lay down field turf on all three of Lafourche’s high school football fields – something that’s long overdue in our parish.

Our area’s fields are woefully overused, and this is something that, honestly, should have been done 20 years ago.

Between prep football, middle school football, soccer, track, physical education classes, youth sports and everything else, there’s just no way for the grass to keep up with the wet, humid climate we have in Southeast Louisiana.

When it rains, the fields get waterlogged, which make them hazardous for competition. Just ask Central Lafourche and Thibodaux football players.

The Trojans and Tigers played a varsity game this past year in Mathews on a soggy, slippery field. Coaches on both teams tout that they lost a half-dozen or more players because of twisted or sprained ankles – injuries that hampered the team for the rest of the season.

That’s not right and not fair to the kids on both teams that worked so hard to compete but got their chances of success lessened because of elements that couldn’t be controlled.

Too many kids of all ages use our fields, so it’s time that we invest in our youth and get the turf we’ve so desperately needed now for many, many years.

This isn’t a pro-football column. It’s pro-student. EVERYONE in the school system uses these fields – even those who aren’t on varsity teams.

To pass this millage is a vote to make things safer for thousands of students in the area, and to me, that’s a no-brainer.

Now, let’s talk about the polarizing one – the one-cent raise.

I will also be voting to accept a one-cent tax to give Lafourche’s teachers a raise, and I’ll give a brief explanation as to why I’d encourage you to do the same.

Yes, it is true that Lafourche tax has a pretty high sales tax rate, and yes, it is true that voting ‘yes’ to this measure will make that lofty rate even higher.

But as a community, we voted recently to tax ourselves to fund the construction of a new jail (another measure I supported).

So, how can we vote to make living quarters more comfortable for criminals, but not vote to help the hard-working educators of Lafourche Parish?

Lafourche has an elite school system, recently given an A-grade – the only local district to earn such a distinction.

If we fail to pass this tax, we will lose ALL of the brightest teachers, coaches and support staff to Terrebonne and neighboring areas.

If we fail to pass this tax, we are telling our children that they don’t deserve to have the best role models or coaches guiding their futures.

Again I say: That’s not right.

I agree that the school board has to be more transparent and should trim some of its spending measures. That’s a no-brainer.

But when you’ve earned an A-grade, you’ve got to be doing something right.

From the perspective of sports, I can say with 100 percent confidence that the low pay in this area has cost our schools the opportunity to hire quality coaches, who’ve taken offers in higher-paying parishes.

I know in my time in this parish, more than one Lafourche school has wanted to hire assistant coaches from other parishes to be their head coach but ended up not being able to, because to do so, that coach would have to take a pay cut.

Imagine that, ASSISTANT coaches elsewhere are making more in Lafourche than head coaches – sometimes by large numbers.

It’s time to fix it and it’s time to get it right.

I’m not a big fan of taxes, but in Lafourche, our problem isn’t with this penny, it’s with the other pennies we pay that we don’t need.

I’m voting yes and yes.

And I’m also now going take a shower.

I need it.

I feel dirty after all this political talk. •

School tax

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