St. Mary School Board pulls tax from Aug. 15 ballot

The St. Mary Parish School Board has withdrawn a proposed 0.45% sales tax for teacher and staff raises from the Aug. 15 ballot, Superintendent Teresa Bagwell confirmed Wednesday.

"The withdrawal of the tax measure comes as the economic impact of continued coronavirus infection remains of serious concern in addition to discrepancies in the ballot language itself," Bagwell said in a press release Wednesday. "The school board acted this week to verify their intentions to withdraw the tax measure and submitted it to the appropriate state election officials."

The School Board passed the first resolution calling for a new 0.50% sales tax in December. Members said Lafourche Parish schools were proposing a half-cent tax of their own for the same purpose, and St. Mary officials said they needed to raise pay to compete for new teachers, especially teachers graduating from Nicholls State. The St. Mary board hoped to have the tax on the May 2020 ballot and have the funding in place by the beginning of the 2020-21 school year.

But opposition developed quickly from other local officials, most importantly from state Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin. Allain objected to the timing, saying the tax shouldn't go before voters in an election likely to have a low turnout. He also objected to language dedicating a portion of the tax toward a technology fund.

Other opposition focused on the potential impact on St. Mary's economy, which slumped for more than five years before coronavirus restrictions and the stay-at-home order because of depressed oil prices.

But Allain's opposition was key because he sits on the State Bond Commission, approval from which was need to get the tax proposition on the ballot. Over the course of three months, the board removed the technology fund from the tax dedication and reduced the tax to 0.45%. The School Board finally received State Bond Commission approval for the May election in time to see the election postponed to Aug. 15 because of the coronavirus.

"The school board is highly cognizant of its role as a governing body to serve as responsible stewards of public funding while correspondingly acting to recruit and retain certified teachers," Bagwell said in a press release Wednesday.

"In December, the board voted to begin the process of placing a sales tax measure on the ballot that would make St. Mary competitive with surrounding parishes in this area. However, a public health emergency and its effects on the local economy resulted in a reconsideration of the measure.

"In the end, board members agreed that it was most appropriate to withdraw the tax measure altogether given the critical circumstances faced by local citizens."