Avoyelles School Board puts sales tax issue on Dec. 10 ballot

   Now it’s official. On Dec. 10, voters will be presented a local 1-percent sales tax proposition to provide raises to Avoyelles Parish School District employees.

  Although the School Board has discussed the tax and the reasons why they believe it is essential to the district for several months, the approval of a resolution at the board’s Aug. 2 meeting was needed before the tax could be put on the ballot.

  Superintendent Blaine Dauzat started the pro-tax campaign the next day, telling the Bunkie Rotary Club the sales tax would raise approximately  $4 million a year. That would provide across-the-board raises of $5,500 to teachers/administrators and $2,500 to support personnel.

   “I want to make one thing clear about this tax,” Dauzat said. “No School Board member will receive one penny if it is passed. “This will only benefit the teachers and support personnel.”

Board members said at the meeting that any sales tax proceeds remaining after the raises are paid will be distributed to employees in a separate sales tax “bonus” check. The tax revenue cannot be used for any other purpose.

   Dauzat told the Rotary Club that Avoyelles Parish is “dead last” in the state in new teacher salaries. If the sales tax is passed, the parish would still be in the bottom fourth of the 71 public school systems -- including city/independent and recovery school districts.

   “This is only one piece of the puzzle for us to become a better school system,” Dauzat continued. “There are other areas we need to improve on, but we have made significant progress this year. We want the progress to continue this coming school year and in years to come.”

   Dauzat expects that progress to be reflected in the individual school and districtwide “School Performance Scores” are released. He believes at least eight of the district’s 10 public schools have shown significant progress.

   The journey from idea to ballot wasn’t an easy one. A major hurdle was to gain approval of the Legislature to allow some municipalities in  Avoyelles to exceed the state’s local sales tax limit.

   There had been debate among board members on possibly providing a larger raise to teachers and administrators and reducing the raise for support personnel. He said the board did well to stick to a plan that made significant raises for all employees.

   Dauzat said it is important that all of the school district’s 700 employees be united in supporting the sales tax.

  During the Rotary meeting, Hessmer resident Lynn Bordelon asked Dauzat why the school system doesn’t lease its Section 16 properties to one person or group of investors instead of leasing individual camp sites. person instead of groups. Bordelon said people have told him that this practice causes them to have concerns that the board is not managing its money and resources wisely, which in turn may cause them to vote against the sales tax.

   Dauzat said competitive bidding for leases ensures the board gets a fair price for those leases. Someone may say they will pay a certain amount for a lease, but if they are the only bidder they may offer much less, he added.