Teacher lagniappe pay check reduced

State budget cuts dipped into the pockets of St. Landry Parish public school teachers to reduce a $542 supplemental paycheck to $433 this month.
Tressa Miller, the school system’s finance director, told the School Board Thursday about a reduction in state funding that lightened the May lagniappe pay.
Miller was asked if the school system could afford to make up the difference between the $432,000 received and the $542,000 that was expected.
Miller said the school system is already projected to end the fiscal year in June with a $3 million general fund deficit.
Adding to the school system’s financial woes is a $1.1 million decrease in its Minimum Foundation Program payments because of reduced student count.
The state payment is based on student enrollment and, at an earlier meeting, Miller said enrollment was 14,262 down 155 from the same time last year.
Additionally, health insurance costs are rising. Health insurance expense is expected to be $3.3 million higher than last year. The budget included an increase of $1.8 million, which is caused by additional employees obtaining insurance and employees adding a spouse/family coverage to comply with the Affordable Care Act.
The School Board’s budget had projected a $86,333 operating surplus at the end of the fiscal year, according to information at a Finance Committee meeting in April.
The financial reports delivered to the Finance Committee pointed to Miller’s prediction of an operating loss for the year that would erode the school system’s general fund balance of $13.6 million.
The financial news came before School Board members listened to three presentations on energy-saving proposals.
The proposals from Star Service, Johnson Controls and Cenergistics had been made in the Board’s Building, Lands and Sites Committee over several months, but in April when Superintendent Edward Brown recommended a a one-year contract with Star Service Inc., of Baton Rouge, the committee balked. At the May 7 board meeting it was decided to ask the three companies to make presentations again.
At the end of a three-hour session, a move to place approval of the Star Service contract on the agenda was defeated when Board President Raymond Cassimere voted “no.”