School Board wants to get a grip on their land

The St. Landry Parish School Board will be asked to request its administrators account for its 16th Section land.
Donnie Perron, School Board member from the Port Barre area, said, “We talked about this probably four years ago when we were broke. We talked about leasing out to hunting clubs to try to make a money and at the same time limit our exposure and it always just fell along the wayside.”
The board’s Building, Lands and Sites Committee on Monday approved sending the request for an accounting to the full board, which meets Aug. 6.
Sixteenth Section lands were created by the U.S. Congress in 1785. Every township’s 16th section is dedicated to public schools. In some cases the land has been sold, but the 16th Section lands remain in place in many states.
“I think we need to more forward with this,” Perron said. “Maybe we can direct the superintendent’s staff to get more information. How many acres? What’s on the property. And, then get our attorney to advertise to lease it out to hunting clubs.”
Superintendent Edward Brown said, “..We will look to see who is on them, who is paying what, where is the money going ... and that is a good idea because I belong to a hunting lease in north Louisiana and hunters pay well and they also have insurance so that will take the liability away from us.”
Joyce Haynes, a retired educator in the audience, suggested the school staff research budgets to determine how much revenue 16th Section land generated in the past.