By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — In a shorter-than-normal meeting Tuesday, the Lincoln Parish School board met for its July session to approve both a cooperative endeavor agreement with the Lincoln Parish Police Jury and revisions to the budget for fiscal year 2024-25.
Following the adoption of agenda and approval of minutes, the board approved the CEA with the LPPJ to clear property in front Choudrant Elementary School. See the image below for specific location.
LPSB Chief Financial Officer Juanita Duke then presented the budget revisions for the 2024-25 fiscal year. Notably, Duke spoke about how the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds due to COVID-19 will no longer be available moving forward. In total, the LPSB utilized $33.6 million in ESSER funding over the last four-year period.
“We were able to push a lot of our instructional costs for the school year to that fund, so that helped and contributed greatly to the ($7.4 million net) surplus we received,” Duke said. “We feel like we’re able to stretch the taxpayer dollar farther by taking advantage of that resource and not using those funds to obligate ongoing recurring-type expenditures.
“We knew ESSER money would go away, and now we’re in a position where we can manage our funds and plan going ahead for those expenditures that we know we’re going to do. ESSER is done, but we’re not off the cliff.”
Assistant Superintendent John Young also talked about the recent release of LEAP scores for the district and listed the schools that will host some of the upcoming board meetings in the 2025-26 calendar: Ruston Junior High, Choudrant Elementary, I.A. Lewis and Cypress Springs Elementary.
All school board members were in attendance.
The school board is scheduled to meet again on Tuesday, August 5, at 6 p.m.
