With only one probable parish-wide election date remaining in 2021, the St. Landry Parish School Board still has more questions than answers as they contemplate placing a comprehensive tax proposition before voters.
Elected board members have scheduled June 3 as the possible target date for deciding whether as many as three separate proposals aimed at significantly improving employee salaries, athletic facilities and establishing an ambitious capital outlay plan for school sites should be put on the ballot.
In addition to the deadline for approving some or all of the propositions, the board has to decide whether to select Nov. 13 for putting the property tax on the ballot or waiting for a 2022 election date is more appropriate.
If Donald Gardner Stadium is eventually converted into a multi-sport complex, none of the funding for the project will be provided by the St. Landry Parish School District.
School Board members made that decision Thursday night, overwhelmingly defeating a proposal to contribute $1 million from the school system to redesign the stadium into a facility with an eight-lane outdoor track and an artificial turf field for football and soccer.
Superintendent Patrick Jenkins, State Rep. Dustin Miller and Opelousas Mayor Julius Alsandor have pushed for the proposed $2 million stadium conversion project that has already received $1 million in financial backing from the city’s Downtown Development District.
The District has already spent $7.3 million of the emergency money for student virtual learning connectivity and is attempting to meet a May 5 deadline on notifying the Louisiana Department of Education on how school officials intend to spend another $27 million of the package.
Possible election dates for bonding the tax money are Nov. 13 and March 26, according to the propositions prepared for the St. Landry Parish School Board by bonding attorneys Eric Lafleur and John Mayeux.
Voters can choose to separately support or reject two of the propositions.
A third bond issue combines the funding included in propositions one and two into a single proposition.
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