Jul 22

Written by: host
7/22/2010 2:16 PM

By Patricia Morris

This is our reply.

As President of the GTPB NAACP, I can unequovically state that this organization completed a Deseg Plan, which was used by Dr. Leonard Stevens in Court for the TPSS. The school attendance lines in place now for the school system was enforced in our plan, and the schools became desegregated 50/50 using our plan. No new taxes were included in our plan, but the money already in place from one of the two pennies this school system already has was used. The only new school we showed in our plan was a Vo-Tech School at the time of putting this plan together that would be built and located in the center of the Parish closer to Independence, Loranger and Amite. Hammond and Ponchatoula already have courses offered for students who will not attend college, but want to learn a skill/trade.

If you will remember, in 2007 one of the two pennies this school system already has was set to expire in 2010. The citizens of Tangipahoa Parish approved renewing this one penny that is dedicated to building new schools in 2007, three years before it was set to expire. The real question should be now, what happened to all of the money this penny generated over a 27 year period?

We do not support a massive building plan that will not desegregate the schools on a voluntary basis, nor do we suppot the massive tax. If you would look at what the school board plan entails, they are the ones who will do the busing to the schools who will house the various programs they offer in their plan. For instance, if a child wants to go a school that has welding training, they will be bused to Ponchatoula High School, and if they want to learn to dance or cook, they must travel to Kentwood.

The citizens voted on and passed this second penny in 2007, yet no new schools were ever built prior to renewing this tax, except Independence Middle, and the citizens of Independence had to vote to impose a 34 Mil Tax on themselves to pay for their new school, when in fact, there was a sales tax penny already in place to pay for their new school. What should be asked now is why are the citizens of Independence yet saddled with this millage, when there is a tax already in place to do what is about to be done for O.W. Dillon using this same penny?

Do not buy into the rhetoric of your tax dollars from the mills imposed on you will be used in building O.W. Dillon a new school. There is a one-cent sales tax dedicated for that purpose already on the books, and it was just renewed for another thirty years. This is not what Judge Lemelle ordered the school system to do following his visit to O.W. Dillon. The judge ordered that the money is taken from the pay-as-you-go funds using one of the pennies, and in this case, the one that is dedicated to building new schools. In court last summer, Judge Lemelle asked Mr. Ron Caruso, former Finance Director for the TPSS how much was the Bonding Capacity for the TPSS. At that time, it was $187 million dollars that could be borrowed without asking that new taxes are passed. That Bonding Capacity should be nearly $250 million now, thus, no need to ask for new taxes for the school system. All other schools are to be upgraded with the rest of the money collected from this penny.

While we continue to monitor the school system to ensure that compliance is met, we realize with the current administration and five of nine school board members, we yet have quite a ways to go.

One piece of advice I give is this. The citizens of Tangipahoa Parish should continue to monitor the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's reports on the TPSS, as well as those reports addressing the scores for the TPSS. It is here you will find out who is being truthful, and who is not.

 

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