Harlan Kirgan
St. Landry Parish School Board finances are projected to end the fiscal year with a $1 million balance on the books, according to Tressa Miller, finance director.
Miller provided her projection at a meeting of the School Board’s Finance Committee meeting.
On Saturday, the School Board is scheduled to hold a special meeting on its 2017-2018 budget from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Supplementary Resource Center, 1013 Creswell Lane, Opelousas.
The school district’s fiscal year run from July through June.
In the 2016-2017 fiscal year, Miller had projected the system would end with a $1.4 million budget overrun.
The outlook for the fiscal year that began this month is for a $3 million deficit that will erode the school district’s ending fund balance to $13.8 million by the end of June 2018.
Miller said the School Board spends 87 percent of its money on salaries and benefits in a discussion about the 2017-2018 budget at Monday’s meeting
Salaries cost about $73 million and benefits are $30 million to $40 million, she said.
“I think about 82 percent is the recommended average and we are above that,” Miller said of the salary and benefit costs.
“We have a lot of facilities that are under-utilized and that is one thing we need to start looking at,” she said.
Superintendent Patrick Jenkins said there will be talk about closing schools.
Demographer Mike Hefner is to present a report to the school district’s staff in August and the School Board is to receive a report in September that may determine the future of schools.
Jenkins said the public doesn’t realize small schools are creating a problem for the school finances. ‘They think it is just running like it is supposed to run,” he said of the public.
Mary Ellen Donatto, chairwoman of the Board’s Buildings, Lands and Sites Committee, said the school system in the past has made a weak attempt to inform the public of the cost of under-utilized schools.
The public needs to learn about the academic advantages of fully utilized schools, she said.
In the completed fiscal year, Miller said an energy-saving program by Star Services helped reduce the Board’s utility expenses from $3 million to $2.6 million.
In the yet to be adopted 2017-2018 budget, there is an expectation the school system’s state-paid Minimum Foundation Program will be cut by $2.5 million due to lower enrollment.
Enrollment in May 2016 was 14,103 and by May 2017 the student count had slipped to 13,784.
In a summary of the 2017-2018 budget, total revenues are forecast at $113.6 million and expenses at $115.9 million.
Revenues are local sources, $37.5 million; state sources, $75.9 million; and federal sources, $178,000.
Expenditures include instructional programs, $73.8 million; support programs, $39.6 million; and debt service, $2.3 million.
Jenkins said health insurance is increasing by 1.5 percent and retirement costs are rising by 1 percent.
In the next budget, a general fund deficit of $1.7 million is forecast and another $1.7 million loss in a employee salary fund is expected.
The salary fund, the Employee Compensation and Benefit Fund, is supported by a 1 percent sales tax first passed in 1999 that generates about $11.5 million a year.
The salary fund is used to pay salaries and is also tapped for a Christmas bonus for employees. Last year the Board approved $1.8 million in bonuses. At the end of June, the fund had a balance of $5.4 million.
Miller said auditors have asked the school district to reduce the fund’s balance to about $2.4 million.
Saturday’s special meeting is also to include a public hearing on the budget.