State aid expected to drop
LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish school system will likely receive about $2 million less in state per pupil funding in the upcoming school year due in large part to the district’s increase in tax revenue, its chief financial officer said Wednesday.
Districts receive per pupil funding based on the Minimum Foundation Program, which uses a formula that takes into consideration a parish’s sales tax and property tax base, district CFO Billy Guidry said.
“It assumes that if a parish has a large tax base that they have the ability to generate more tax revenue,” Guidry said.
Property tax and sales tax revenues in the parish increased by about $4 million between the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years, according to an audit report presented to the School Board on Wednesday.
“This increase in sales tax collections actually hurts us in the MFP calculation,” Guidry said.
Burton Kolder of Kolder, Champagne, Slaven & Co. presented a favorable audit report.
The School Board has a healthy fund balance that exceeds its own policy of setting aside at least 15 percent of its operating costs, Kolder said.
“You’re at $41 million and board policy requires $34 million,” Kolder said.
The reserve fund is designed to carry the district through any financial “hiccups,” Guidry said.
“Give me an example of a Louisiana hiccup,” board President Shelton Cobb said.
“In 2010, our sales tax revenues decreased by a million a month, so that would be an example of a hiccup,” Guidry said. “In one year’s time, we had a reduction of $12 million in our revenue base.”
Other items discussed during the meeting included:
STUDENT INFORMATION: The School Board approved the purchase of a new student information system, which will cost about $941,000 to implement in the first year and about $129,500 in years two through five, according to cost estimates provided by Logan McDaniel, district chief technology officer.
The purchase replaces the student information system, Infinite Campus with JPAMS by EDgear, a system used by the majority of school districts in Louisiana.
“The main problem we have with Infinite Campus is with state reporting,” McDaniel said. School staff must correct the data in the system for state reporting purposes, he said.
In a five-year period, the switch will save the district about $15,455 and after that period, the district will see an annual savings of about $165,500, McDaniel said.
Superintendent Pat Cooper said the software switch is an example of what “we’re trying to do across the whole district — come up with mechanisms to free up time for teachers and principals.”
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