Avoyelles School Board ok’s one-time supplements

School employees who returned to the Avoyelles Parish School District this school year will be receiving an extra supplement check at the end of this month.

The School Board approved the “surplus supplement” on a 6-2 vote at its Oct. 1 meeting. The proposed supplement was defeated on a 4-4 vote at the September meeting.

Board members Rickey Adams and Robin Moreau voted against the measure, citing a projected $2.6 million deficit for this budget year.

Board members Latisha Small, Chris Robinson and Van Kojis voted for the supplement in September and this next time. Board member Stanley Celestine Jr. was absent in September, but had told Superintendent Blaine Dauzat he supported paying the one-time supplement. He voted for the measure at the Oct. 1 meeting.

Board President Lynn DeLoach and board member Aimee Dupuy changed their vote to support the supplement.

Board member Chris LaCour, who voted in favor of the supplement when it was brought up in September, was absent.

Had Deloach and Dupuy not decided to use part of the surplus for the supplement, it would once again have died on a 4-4 vote due to an absent “yes” voting board member.
$1,000 and $500

Employees with teaching certificates -- teachers, school administrators and Central Office supervisory staff -- will receive a $1,000 supplement. Support personnel will receive $500.

It was noted that not all employees will receive the supplement. Only those who worked in the system in 2018-19 and returned to the system for the 2019-20 school year qualify for the supplement.

Several board members said the district employees “did a good job last year” and deserve the supplement.

The supplement is intended to not only reward school district employees for last year’s efforts, but also for their loyalty in returning to the Avoyelles system instead of going to a school system that pays more.

Paying the supplement will reduce a $1.8 million surplus from this past budget year to $1.2 million.

In September, Dauzat had recommended spending $500,000 of that to pay off the outstanding loan for purchasing new buses and to put the remaining $700,000 in the district’s Reserve Fund to offset at least part of the projected deficit.

Those two proposals were referred to the Finance Committee for discussion and a recommendation on whether to pay off all or part of the bus note or put the entire $1.2 million surplus in a “rainy day” account.

Dauzat told board members he cannot promise that the projected deficit will shrink before the end of the budget year, but experience over the past few years indicates it could.

This past budget year and the previous one, projected deficits but were turned into surpluses that allowed the board to give district employees a one-time supplement.

SCHEDULE CHANGES

The board committees will meet on Oct. 22 instead of their regular date of Oct. 15. The meetings were rescheduled so the district “Report Card Night” at the schools could be held on Oct. 15.

That schedule change was needed because Bunkie Magnet and Marksville High both have Homecoming games on Oct. 18 and the schools wanted a few days between Report Card Night and Homecoming.