LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Ruston, Louisiana
REGULAR SESSION
Wednesday, February 20, 2002 12:30 p.m.
The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 at 12:30 p.m. at Choudrant Elementary School. Members present were Mr. Billy Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, Ms. Lisa Best, Mr. Curtis Dowling, Ms. Mattie Harrison, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Joe Mitcham, Mr. Rob Shadoin, Ms. Jo Tatum, and Mr. David Wright.
Dr. Marty Beasley was absent.
Prior to the business meeting, board members enjoyed a delicious lunch in the school cafeteria.
President Shadoin called the meeting to order and the invocation was given by Mr. Mitcham. Mr. Shadoin led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.
Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as amended with the addition of a Minimum Foundation Program report and a Resolution regarding reapportionment.
Principal of Choudrant Elementary School, Charles Hogan, welcomed the Board to the kindergarten through sixth grade school which has a current enrollment of 385. He said he is proud of the students' academic growth during his tenure. Mr. Hogan thanked the Board and the administration for support and especially for their new computer lab. He issued a standing invitation for visits to the school and classrooms at any time.
Superintendent Gerald Cobb provided an explanation of further 2001-2002 Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) reductions. As he had told the Board previously, the one-time proposed decrease for Lincoln Parish was projected to be $323,665 at the beginning of the year. He recently received the preliminary final budget letter which had been approved by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) for distribution of the 01-02 MFP funds. The parish's one-time reduction in funding had grown to $1,467,542. This $1,467,542 reduction represents funding which would have been received over and above what was needed to pay the $2,060 across-the-board teacher pay raise given last year and was to be incentive pay, according to Level II of the MFP formula, for raising local tax revenues. Instead, the funds were taken and redistributed to other school districts to provide them with an additional $60 across-the-board increase in teacher pay. Initially seven parishes were to have $4.5 million subtracted from their funding. Instead, sixteen districts were penalized in this manner with $11.04 million being taken away. In addition, he noted, that Lincoln gets zero Level III funding for teacher pay raises this year. He indicated that BESE blames the Legislature for the changes and the Legislature blames BESE. To allow this type of redistribution of Level II funding in the MFP to continue as a short-term funding alternative for the state to provide for teacher pay raises, or any other funding concern, is a betrayal to local school districts and communities, in Dr. Cobb's opinion. Ironically, the General Appropriations Bill of the 2001 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature provided $11.8 million in funding over the final, actual requirement. This savings should have allowed the reduced MFP funds to be returned to the sixteen school districts. He suggested that the Board attempt to get the Louisiana School Boards Association (LSBA) on board and to approve a resolution stating their views. Additionally, he feels that letters should be written to senators, representatives, the Governor, BESE, Superintendent of Education, LSBA, Chairmen of the Senate and House Education Committees, and to the editors of the local newspapers. A law suit is certainly a possibility, he said in closing, if fairness cannot be obtained in any other way.
Several Board members, including the President, expressed their continuing concerns with the MFP, the Legislature, and BESE and discussed possible actions which could be taken as a Board. The consensus was that Legislators and BESE representatives should be held accountable and talked with, eye-to-eye.
Superintendent Cobb recommended that Lincoln Parish's BESE member, Dr. James Stafford; and Legislators, Senator Bill Jones, Representative Rick Gallot, and Representative Jay McCallum; be invited to the next meeting of the board for the matter to be discussed and answers to be sought.
By acclamation, the Board agreed with Dr. Cobb's recommendation and urged him to issue the invitations and to write letters to those groups he had suggested earlier.
Board Attorney and Assistant District Attorney, Andy Shealy, presented a resolution he had written explaining why the Board could not meet the March 1 deadline for completing reapportionment requirements. Although he has written numerous letters to the U. S. Census Bureau because of their mistake in placing the entire population of Grambling State University on the north side of the Interstate, it has refused to furnish the needed data. The impact on the Board, he said, would be that board elections cannot be held this year. The current Board would serve five years, instead of four, and the following term would be reduced to three years in order to get back to the original election years. He asked for the Board's approval of his resolution.
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Ms. Tatum, the Board unanimously voted by poll vote to adopt the following:
RESOLUTION
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Lincoln Parish School Board hereby represents and acknowledges that it has diligently sought to have a new apportionment plan for its election districts approved by it on or before March 1, 2002, but that, through no fault of its own, it will be unable to do so because of the erroneous allocation of the United States Census Bureau or certain persons residing in housing units and/or group quarters population counts in certain Census 2000 Tabulation Blocks in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, the delays in responding to the challenge of the Lincoln Parish School Board to said erroneous allocations, and the failure of the United States Census Bureau to provide the Lincoln Parish School Board with full and complete block level data of the age and ethnic breakdown of those individuals reallocated within the Census 2000 Tabulation Blocks in question.
In a Report of the Superintendent, Dr. Gerald Cobb said he had included in portfolios:
1. A memo regarding a Region VIII Awards Ceremony for those schools receiving recognition in the area of academic growth. He asked the Board to RSVP to Becky Gemelli if they wanted to attend.
2. An updated travel policy for immediate implementation.
3. NSBA registration which was to be returned to Becky Gemelli.
4. A Thank You note from Mr. Anders.
After brief comments, upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Dowling, and by a unanimous vote, the meeting adjourned at 1:17 p.m.
______________________________ ______________________________
Gerald W. Cobb, Secretary Robert E. Shadoin, President