Schools could get small boost in state aid

The St. Mary Parish School Board, which voted to close two schools last month because of declining enrollment and state aid, might see a little more state money next school year.

The Minimum Foundation Program resolution for school year 2016-17 was submitted Monday just before the filing deadline, said state Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Gray.

This year’s resolution is by Sen. Dan W. “Blade” Morrish , R-Jennings.

The MFP is a formula that determines how much money per student public school districts will get from the state.

It also allocates equitable funding to local public school systems as developed by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The resolution allocates $3.5 billion to all of the public schools in Louisiana, said Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin.

It proposes an increase to the base per pupil amount from $3,961 to $4,015, which is a 1.375 percent increase.

Morrish will decide when the Senate Education Committee reviews the resolution, Amedee said.

It has to make its way through Senate education, the Senate floor, House Education and then the House floor.

If the bill survives all the way through, the new aid level will go into effect, Amedee said.

If the bill does not survive, then the last approved formula, from 2014, stands.

The additional state money could help alleviate some of the strain on the St. Mary School Board’s current budget, which has been stung by decreasing enrollment for a decade.

Under this resolution, certified teachers are allotted pay raises of $500, Jones said.

“Our salary scale allots an annual increase in salary as prescribed,” Assistant Superintendent Teresa Bagwell said. “I know that the funds allotted for the salary increase are under debate, and the Legislature may elect to remove those funds for 2016-17.

“If the state elects to remove financial support for the salary increases, the board would have to include that funding as part of its budget session.”

But if the state keeps the financial support in the resolutions then teachers in the district would continue to receive a raise, Bagwell said.

“I don’t think anybody … even the most hardcore, anti, negative people in the legislature probably don’t have a problem with seeing teachers with a pay raise,” Jones said.

“I’ve always been a proponent of giving teachers a pay raise and keeping us at the southern regional average or better.”

Approval of the MFP resolution may not be final until June.

In the meantime, “we are looking to be very conservative in our budget estimates as the state is pulling funds from various areas,” Bagwell said.