Superintendent defends tax proposal, says rates will still be low

Even if the 0.45% sales tax proposition on next month’s ballot to fund St. Mary Parish Public School system raises passes, parish residents still will pay one of the lowest sales taxes among parishes in the region, Superintendent Teresa Bagwell told board members during Thursday’s monthly meeting in Centerville.
“If approved, the measure will still see St. Mary as one of the lowest sales tax parishes in the area at 4.45% and 4.75%, respectively, in Morgan City, versus 5% or higher in surrounding parishes,” she said. “Our school system has built a reputation as one of the state’s higher-performing districts, and we are committed to fulfilling our pledge to offer students an exceptional education, which begins in the classroom.”
Bagwell’s comments come a day after St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff said he would speak out against the tax at public meetings. He said he opposes the tax because parish’s economy is struggling due to the oil and gas downturn as well as COVID-19, and he said the School Board hasn’t done its part to alleviate costs.
The sales tax proposal would fund a $3,000 per year raise for certified board employees and a raise of $1,500 for other employees. The tax is expected to generate $4 million per year.
Thursday, Bagwell noted the Louisiana Department of Education recently released a report called “Believe to Achieve” and cited teaching stats from it.
She said the state’s average salary was $50,288 in the 2018-19 school year, while St. Mary’s was $47,933.
“Between 2016 and 2019, 44% of teachers left the field within their first five years,” she said of data from the report.
According to the document, a minimum of 20% of math, science and social studies classes in Louisiana were being taught by teachers who are uncertified or teaching out of their field. The data shows that 24% of Louisiana teachers in 2019-20 were not certified or teaching outside their field, too.
“St. Mary parallels the state’s priorities with a need to acquire and retain a diverse, highly effective educator workforce in an effort to staff every classroom with a certified and exceptionally competent teacher,” she said. “Such efforts are impeded by the declining number of education majors in the state’s colleges, as corroborated within the ‘Believe to Achieve’ data. The onset of the pandemic has only acted to magnify this problem as school systems struggle to hire teachers.”
In other action, Thursday, the board:
—Approved DETEL as its vendor for is 2021-25 E-Rate Category 2 project. The district is eligible for $1.4 million in E-Rate money for network infrastructure improvements. The board will be responsible for 15% of the project’s costs.
—Declared two portable metal buildings at Franklin Junior High as surplus and approved an intergovernmental agreement to pass ownership to the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office.
—Approved a proclamation declaring March 8-12 as National School Breakfast Week.
—Agreed to set a Uniform Committee Meeting for Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. and a District 3 Maintenance Committee Meeting for March 11 at 4:30 p.m. to examine bids for Morgan City High School’s Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning project. Both meetings will be at the Central Office Complex.