2 school board members vote ‘no’ against new budget

Two Vermilion Parish School Board members did not approve the new proposed budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
Board members Sarah Duplechain and Laura LeBeouf voted no against taking $2.3 million from the school board’s reserve and using it to offset a shortfall the school board is projecting at the end of the fiscal year in July.
Despite their “no” vote, the rest of the board members approved using $2.3 million from the reserves to balance the budget.
“I can not support a financial proposal that has no contingency plan,” said LeBeouf. “We are presented to accept a plan that exceeds
spending $2.3 million. This does not take into account the times that this board will be asked during the upcoming year to defray these one time cost. That could range another $4 million with the lack of sustainability of our insurance fund. There is no guarantee that we will not have to dip again into the balanced reserve.”
Duplechain told board members she called Lafayette Parish to see how they operate. She explained that Lafayette Parish is on a tight budget. She also said, looking back, maybe the board should not have approved certain things.
“All of these one time fees we voted for this past year, I have to say, I regret voting for some of these issues. Maybe they were not truly necessary. We have to start with a balance budget. We have to make the hard choices. I don’t want anyone to lose their jobs, but I also want to make sure we are living within our means. I want to make sure we are living within our means and spending the money that we need.”
If the school board has to cut other places as a way to make sure the money stays in the classrom, Duplechain said she is all for it.
“That is why we are all here. For the classrooms,” Duplechain said. “Our students have to be successful. Our teachers can’t teach our students if they are not successful.”
LeBeouf was told by board members that the school board had $12 million in reserve and it built it up to $19 million over the last two years because of oil and gas revenue from 16th Section Land.
Before the school board approved taking out the $2.3 million on Thursday, the school board reserve was down to $15 million. After Thursday night, it will be down to $12.7 million.
“We are playing a blame game and must set examples for society and our kids,” LeBeouf said. “Accountability - to be responsible for one’s action will require planning and contingency plans to be presented to the board.
“I have asked for expenditure reports beginning in February but all I get is an excuse that I am trying to micromanage or our system can’t do it. When we are asked to adopt the budget, we are given only half the truth. This is the budget, this is the revision but never know the truth about expenditures.”
LeBeouf told the other board members that there is a lot of work to do and, “We can choose to look the other way or we can do the job we were elected to do.”