Early voting on school sales tax begins Saturday

St. Mary voters get their chance to decide the fate of a proposed sales tax for public school staff pay beginning Saturday, when early voting begins for the March 20 election
Early voting will run through March 13, excluding Sunday, March 7.
Hours will be 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily, and early voting will be held in the Registrar of Voters Office on the third floor of the parish courthouse in Franklin and in the branch office at 301 Third St. in Morgan City.
Voters may cast their ballot at either location, regardless of where they are registered in the parish.
Voters also should be aware that the special Emergency Covid Mail Ballot Request has been approved for the March 20 election. This application is available in the Registrar of Voters Office and also on the Secretary of State’s website. Voters should contact the Registrar of Voters Office at 337-828-4100, ext. 360 for more information.
The only issue on the ballot is the parishwide School Board proposition, which seeks to levy and collect a 0.45% tax for five years, beginning July 1, to be used to supplement salaries and benefits for teachers and other personnel.
The ballot proposition says the 0.45% tax will raise about $3.85 million a year. The School Board plans to raise the pay of certified personnel, mostly teachers, by $3,000 annually. The pay of other staff members would go up by $1,500.
The school system leadership says St. Mary’s average teacher pay of about $48,000 is $2,000 less than the state average and ranks 42nd among more than 70 public school systems. That’s despite the fact St. Mary’s performance score under the state accountability system ranks in the top quarter of the state’s school systems.
St. Mary needs to pay teachers competitive salaries in order to attract and keep talented teachers, they said..
Opponents argue that the tax would be a blow to a parish economy already struggling with the effects of the 6-year-old slide in energy prices and restrictions imposed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The School Board should focus instead on trimming administrative costs, they say.
The tax proposal was scheduled for a public vote last year, but the School Board withdrew the proposition out of concern about the ballot language developed by the Secretary of State’s Office.
Elsewhere in Louisiana, two of the state’s U.S. House seats are on the March 20 ballot even though congressional elections were settled only four months ago.
In District 2 in the New Orleans area, voters will pick a successor for U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, who has accepted a post in the Biden administration.
Fifteen candidates — eight Democrats, four Republicans, two independents and a Libertarian — have qualified to run for the seat.
In north Louisiana’s District 5, voters will fill a U.S. House seat left vacant by the COVID-related death of Republican Luke Letlow, who died after winning election to Congress in December.
The 13-candidate field includes Letlow’s wife, Julia Letlow, who is one of 10 Republicans to qualify. One Democrat, one independent and one candidate who qualified as “no party” are also in the race.