St. Martin School Board against vouchers

By Henri C. Bienvenu

t_news@bellsouth.net

With three of its members opposed, the St. Martin School Board last week adopted a resolution calling for the state legislature and Gov. Bobby Jindal to reject any form of legislation that would provide private school vouchers in Louisiana.

The resolution, which is being circulated to all school districts in the state, argues that any public funds directed to school vouchers potentially deletes funding of public schools and that public funds directed to school vouchers that are expended in private and/or parochial schools “decreases the freedom of operation of these schools” by making them subject to government regulation.

Although there was little discussion of the resolution, during a roll call vote members Wanda Babin, Rodney Ledoux and Frederic Stelly all voiced opposition to the motion.

The resolution also urges all Louisiana public school boards to join in opposition of school vouchers.

In other business during last week’s monthly meeting the board also:

•Asked the staff to research the possibility of turning over janitorial services at parish schools to private contractors. Board member Mark Hebert, who offered the suggestion, emphasized that such a move, if it proved feasible, would be done through attrition, with no janitors being fired.

•Asked the staff to prepare a report of what Hebert termed a “drastic” increase in the cost of the system’s workmen’s compensation insurance program. “I think we need to monitor (the claims) more closely in order to root out abuse,” suggested Hebert.

•Rejected all bids on the replacement of flooring at Cecilia High School and Breaux Bridge High School. The low bid was almost $30,000 over the $68,000 budget and staff members suggested using in-house maintenance personnel or possibly parish trusties to remove the old flooring as a way to lower the cost of the projects.