School Board OKs budget, stipends

By BILL DECKER
bdecker
@daily-review.com
CENTERVILLE – The St. Mary Parish School Board dipped into its reserves to balance the 2026-27 school system budget as enrollment and state aid continue to decline.
Yet the board found money for state-mandated teacher and support staff stipends. The accumulated fund balance in the general fund remains healthy at about $38.2 million, an amount equal to about 40% of what the district expects to spend next year.
The board passed the 2026-27 budget without objection at Thursday’s regular meeting.
The budget anticipates revenue of $90.9 million. The biggest single source is $46.6 million in locally generated funds, mainly sales and property taxes.
The Minimum Foundation Program accounts for most of state funding at $44.9 million. In 2025-26, the board budgeted $46.2 million in MFP funding.
MFP funding is based largely on enrollment, and St. Mary’s public-school enrollment has been declining for more than a decade. The April 2026 enrollment was at 6,480. The official enrollment for the current school year will be determined next month.
Expenditures are expected to be $94.2 million in 2026-27. The biggest single piece is instructional services, totaling about $55.3 million.
One source of budget uncertainty has been the teacher and staff stipends ordered by Gov. Jeff Landry. Those stipends are to be $2,000 for certified employees and $1,000 for support staffers.
After a proposed amendment designed to fund the stipends failed, Landry’s order required the funding to come from MFP funds.
The state withheld $1.8 million in St. Mary MFP funding for the stipends. Superintendent Dr. Rachel Sanders recommended that the board spend a bit more.
Landry’s order allowed some employees to be passed over for the stipends. They include principals, assistant principals, deans, counselors, therapists, specialists, certified district staffers, school nurses, long-term substitutes, and pre-kindergarten teachers and paraprofessionals.
Sanders asked the board to give those employees stipends, too. That would cost about $460,000.
The board approved the stipends without objection.
Chief Financial Officer Becky Voisin said cost-cutting measures helped the School Board handle what she described as extraordinary circumstances.