Allain isn't sure he'll go along with amended school tax proposal

The St. Mary School Board’s addition of a five-year term on a half-cent sales tax proposal might not be enough to ease the concerns of state Sen. Bret Allain.

Allain, R-Franklin, is a member of the State Bond Commission, which must approve the sales tax proposition’s inclusion in the May 9 ballot. At a St. Mary Chamber breakfast Wednesday, Allain said he isn’t sure whether he will support the tax after the School Board added the sunset provision at a special meeting Tuesday.

He said he’ll decide what to do about the amended resolution’s call for a tax vote after talking with the treasurer and the School Board.

“Will I stop it from being [placed] on the ballot? I haven’t decided yet,” Allain said.

A quarter-cent tax that limits the proceeds to use for teacher pay, or even employee pay, would win support from the people who now oppose it, Allain said after the meeting.

“They chose to ignore that and go for the half cent,” Allain said after the meeting.

In December, the School Board passed a resolution calling for a May 9 vote on the new half-cent sales tax, which would raise about $4 million a year. The resolution called for the tax to continue “in perpetuity” and said the money would be used for teacher and staff raises and technology enhancements. There was also language allowing use of the money for other purposes determined by the board.

The State Bond Commission deferred action on the School Board’s resolution at a Feb. 20 meeting. At the same meeting, the commission approved a Lafourche Parish School Board proposal for an election on a half-cent tax that includes a term of five years, after which voters would be asked to renew the levy.

At a St. Mary Industrial Group meeting Monday, Allain said he was concerned about enacting the tax in perpetuity. If the School Board insisted, the senator said, he would push for election to be held Nov. 3, when the presidential election is likely to generate a much bigger voter turnout than a proposition-only election May 9.

The School Board responded by amending the resolution to add the five-year limit. The May 9 vote election could still be approved by the State Bond Commission’s three-member Ad Hoc Subcommittee next week.

Proponents say the proposed raises, $3,000 annually for teachers and $1,500 for other staff members, are needed to help the district attract and hold on to teachers. At Tuesday’s School Board meeting, they pointed to the Lafourche school tax election and said St. Mary competes with that parish when it recruits Nicholls State graduates.

School Board President Michael Taylor said the district has maintained a good accountability rating while learning to operate more efficiently.

But the tax proposal has also drawn opposition from those who say it is the wrong move at a time when St. Mary’s economy is trying to recover from a five-year slump.

At Wednesday’s Chamber breakfast, Allain said he has supported teacher raises in the last two legislative sessions.

But he also said the district’s enrollment has dropped by 1,000 students in the last decade.

And the district received ample money for teacher raises from an increase in state Minimum Foundation Program funding, which rose from $5,530 per St. Mary student in 2018-19 to $5,972 in 2019-20, Allain said. That’s $11,000 per classroom.

“If they wanted to give pay raises to teachers, they could have done that,” Allain said.