LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Ruston, Louisiana

REGULAR SESSION

Tuesday, January 7, 2025  6:00 p.m.

The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. at 410 South Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana.  Members present were Ms. Debbie Abrahm, Mr. Clark Canterbury, Mr. David Ferguson, Mr. Danny Hancock, Ms. Lynda Henderson, Mr. Joe Mitcham, Mr. Gregg Phillips, Mr. Hunter Smith and Dr. Danielle Williams.

Mr. Otha Anders, Ms. Donna Doss, and Mr. George Mack, Jr. were absent.

President Phillips called the meeting to order, delivered the invocation, and led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.

Upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as printed.

Upon a motion by Ms. Abrahm, seconded by Mr. Canterbury, the Board voted 8–1 to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on December 3, 2024, as distributed.  Mr. Ferguson voted no.

The Election of Officers for 2025 was the next item on the agenda.  Mr. Phillips yielded the floor to attorney James Buckley who declared the floor open for nominations for President for 2025.  Mr. Mitcham nominated Mr. Phillips. Mr. Buckley asked if there were any other nominations and hearing none, Mr. Hancock moved that nominations be closed, seconded by Mr. Canterbury.  Mr. Phillips was elected President for 2025.

Mr. Buckley asked for nominations for Vice President for 2025.  Mr. Ferguson nominated Dr. Williams.  Mr. Buckley asked if there were any other nominations.  Hearing none, Mr. Ferguson made the motion, seconded by Ms. Henderson that nominations be closed.  Dr. Williams was elected Vice President for 2025.

Chief Financial Officer Juanita Duke said that the Simsboro Special Operating and Maintenance millage will expire with the collection of the 2025 assessment.  The current Simsboro tax is 3.33 mills and will have a collection period of ten years starting with the 2026 tax roll.  The tax is estimated to continue the collection of $247,500 annually for the district.  The following resolution must be adopted by the board in order to call an election on May 3, 2025, to authorize the continuation of the tax.

Upon a motion by Mr. Canterbury, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the board voted by roll call 9 – 0 to approve the resolution in order to call an election on May 3, 2025 for voters to consider the continuation of the tax of the Simsboro School District No. 3 of the Parish of Lincoln.

Construction Supervisor James Payton told board members that preliminary plans for a new classroom building at Choudrant Elementary School and multi-purpose building at Choudrant High School are nearing completion.  Funds for these projects will come from the property bond approved by voters in the Choudrant School District.  Mr. Payton asked the Board to consider granting permission to advertise for bids for these projects.

Upon a motion by Mr. Hancock, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise for bids on a new classroom building at Choudrant Elementary School, and multi-purpose building at Choudrant High School, and grant the superintendent permission to accept a qualified bid that meets specifications and is within budget.

Next, Mr. Payton said that plans for rebuilding the front entrance of Ruston High School are complete and this project will be funded from the C.O.P.S. Grant.  He asked the Board to consider granting permission to advertise for bids for this work.

Upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise for bids for security work at Ruston High School and give the superintendent permission to accept a qualified bid that meets specifications and is within budget.

Assessment and Accountability Supervisor Dr. Lillie Williams-Hearn reminded the Board that in October she shared the Beginning of the Year (BOY) Literacy Screener (DIBELS) information. She then shared the 2024-2025 Middle of the Year (MOY) Literacy Screener results.  This report included overall district data indicating how students performed in grades K-3.  When comparing the MOY results to the BOY results, all grade levels showed growth in the percentage of students scoring proficient or above in their literacy skills acquisition as measured by the screener.

K-2 ELA Facilitator Michelle Thrower added information regarding what the district is doing to help students who are not at Benchmark, such as individual academic support plans for each of these students, and interventions that are recommended to address the deficiencies these students are showing.

In the Personnel Report, Assistant Superintendent John Young, filling in for Dr. Doris Lewis verbalized:

Ms. Duke presented three reports that have been filed with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on their website www.emma.msrb.org in accordance with the continuing disclosure agreements entered into with the purchasers of general obligation bonds sold to the public by Ruston School District No. 1, Simsboro School District No. 3, and Choudrant School District No. 6.  These annual reports of continuing disclosures are mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission to be filed annually before December 31st.  The reports provide investors with certain current financial and operating information about each district for use in making informed buy or sell decisions about the district bonds that continue to be openly traded in the municipal securities market.  Some operating information reported for each taxing district includes tax collection performance, noted changes in financial reporting methods, current assessed value of property, historical millage rates in the district, and a list of top ten taxpayers within each taxing district.

Ms. Duke reviewed information in the Ruston School District No. 1 annual report noting $39,960,000 in general obligation bond principal currently outstanding, historically 99% of tax bills in the district are paid by taxpayers each year, and that the ten largest property taxpayers make up 9.05% of the tax base in the District.  Moving to Simsboro School District No. 3 annual report on the $10,000,000 in general obligation bond principal outstanding, she said that average tax bills paid by taxpayers is over 99% and the top ten taxpayers make up 1.12% of the assessed valuation of the tax base in the Simsboro School District.  Lastly, to the Choudrant School District No. 6 annual report, Ms. Duke reported general obligation bond principal outstanding of $3,605,000, with an average of 99% of the tax bills paid by taxpayers annually, and that the ten largest property taxpayers make up approximately 5.6% of the tax base in the Choudrant District.  She emphasized the strong tax collection record in all districts that also maintain a credit rating of AA- with Standard & Poor’s, which is considered to be among the highest ratings for school district bonds in the state.

Ms. Duke called attention to figures on the December 2024 sales tax report compared to the previous year and said that collections were about even.  Overall, collections year-to-date is approximately 5.3% higher than collections through this same period last year.

In the financial update for November 2024, Ms. Duke reported General Fund fiscal year revenues are 37.8% of annual budgeted revenues, and expenditures are approximately 31.9% of the annual budget.  In the Special Revenue Fund, revenues are 37.9% and expenditures are 45.6% of the annual budget.

Moving on to the Health Insurance Fund report for November 2024, Ms. Duke reported total plan contributions of $1.36 million for the month with total expenses paid for the month of $1.67 million, for a decrease in net assets of about $304,000 for November.  For the eleven-month period, total annual contributions to the plan are approximately $13.8 million including interest earnings.  Total plan expenses including administration and claims are $15.8 million for the year, for a $2 million reduction in plan net assets for the year so far.

In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Durrett said:

There being no further business, upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham the meeting adjourned at 6:32 p.m.