The opinions in this letter do not necessarily reflect those of the publishing staff of the Lincoln Parish Journal.
To The Editor:
As a career educator, and lifelong advocate for teachers, I encourage Parish residents to vote “YES” on the Lincoln Parish School Board’s proposal to modernize its accounting structure by consolidating five small taxes into one 2.5% tax.
Some have suggested that this consolidation could result in a reduction in teacher and full time staff salaries and benefits, apparently based on the mistaken belief that these “dedicated” sales taxes alone provide all the funding necessary to pay those costs.
In fact, the sales taxes in question provide only about 38% of the money needed to pay teacher and full time staff salaries. So, whether the sales tax revenues are in one account or five, or are considered to be “dedicated,” they simply do not “guarantee” or “secure” teacher and staff salaries and benefits. Additional revenue from non-sales-tax sources is always required to meet the total cost.
The same is true for the 13th and 14th paychecks that teachers receive – money for those supplemental checks is NOT determined by the amount of sales tax revenue raised. Similar to regular paychecks, the School Board must draw on all the resources available to them to pay for the supplemental checks.
And one piece of simple logic on this topic – why would the Lincoln Parish School Board want to reduce teacher and staff salaries and benefits? There is no benefit to anyone in doing so, and it would be entirely against the School Board’s mission. Not to mention the firestorm of opposition that it would create in our community.
The consolidation proposal is simply common sense – it will not increase taxes, it has been recommended by the School Board’s accountants, it could improve our bond rating and lower future borrowing costs and, as our sales tax revenues rise significantly in the next several years, it makes School Board accounting simpler and more transparent for the public – it will all be visible in one account.
For the sake of Lincoln Parish schools, students, teachers and staff, please vote “YES” on the School Board sales tax consolidation proposal on June 27.
Sincerely,
Gary Stokley, Ph.D. (ret.)
Ruston
