Message from the School Board President: October 17, 2006

It is very exciting to read of the recently announced school building and improvement plans of our neighbors in St. Tammany Parish. They and a number of other neighboring parishes are seeing an unexpected result of Katrina. The redistribution of population that has occurred, and the increased tax revenue that has followed the population, is making it possible for these communities to provide additional funding for schools.

Unfortunately, in Orleans Parish, 2006 sales taxes revenues are 28.8% below their 2005 levels and property tax revenues have gone down by 39.6% since Katrina. No doubt this trend will continue in 2007. As a result of the lower tax revenues, the Orleans Parish School Board was forced to raise our property tax millage rate for 2006 by 5.7 mills to 58.5 mills just to meet our legal obligation to collect sufficient funds to make our bond payments. And it’s possible there will be another increase required next year.
 
When the State absorbed 102 of the Orleans Parish Schools into the Recovery School District, the Minimum Foundation Program funding went with the students.     Orleans now receives funding for only the 9,300 students in schools run by the School Board and OPSB Charter Schools, but still has $276.2 Million of previous bond debt as of June 30,2006 and $100.4 Million in operating deficits incurred by previous Orleans Parish school administrations.

These are all troubling statistics. Our city wants and needs high performing schools and quality school facilities, but at the moment, is working to educate children in dilapidated schools that have been underperforming for years.

Where will the funding for reform come from? Will the citizens of New Orleans be willing to pay higher taxes? Will wealthy citizens and outside entities donate millions of dollars to rebuild our system? Will the State Legislators and the Governor be moved to invest more state revenues in New Orleans? Will some of the abundance of Federal funds flowing into the state be set aside for rebuilding the Orleans school system? At this time, there are few likely possibilities.

Just for the four district schools and the 12 Charters that the School Board operates, we have spent $15.0 million to repair damage from Katrina. Eventually, most of this money should be reimbursed by FEMA and funds from Community Development Block Grants. Thus far, we have managed to restore our limited facilities to pre-Katrina levels.   Now we must address the challenge of raising the bar and creating “pristine facilities” that the City Council and others say we must have to attract citizens back to New Orleans.

We soon will begin to implement a three–year construction plan that will bring our school buildings to a higher level of quality than we have had in this city for many years. 

But it will cost a minimum of $27.9 million to just make deferred maintenance improvements to our 17 Orleans School Board schools and charter schools. These improvements will correct pre-Katrina conditions that had deteriorated over a period of years. A continued capital spending plan will need to be approved so ongoing improvements can continue.

We still need to make initial repairs to Bethune and find permanent facilities for Hynes, Moton, Lusher Middle and High School, New Orleans Math and Science, Lake Forest Montessori and Einstein – at substantial additional cost. To restore the 34 current Recovery District Schools and alleviate all pre-Katrina deferred maintenance in those facilities, as well as building new schools as a longer range plan dictates, will cost untold millions in additional capital funds.

Given the City’s financial problems, it is unclear where this money will come from – even though everyone agrees that quality schools are an integral component of the city’s ultimate recovery.Here are some potential solutions. The State has been generous in assisting the School Board in a number of ways that have kept us afloat during this post-Katrina era. They have advanced $60 million in unemployment payments to our former employees during the period following the storm. The State and Federal Governments have awarded   a $76 Million tax exempt bond to pay a portion of our pre-existing bond payments for three years. They have also granted us $59.3 million in community disaster loans. This cooperation has been crucial and the support of our colleagues in Baton Rouge and Washington, DC will be much-needed as we move forward. It will be key to our ultimate recovery that our obligation for unemployment payments, the tax exempt bonds and community disaster loans be forgiven over time.


If the School Board and the Recovery District can come to a resolution on how many schools our unified system will ultimately need, we could possibly put up for sale a number of properties that, given the city’s reduced population, will not be needed in the foreseeable future. This could potentially amount to upwards of 50 properties, worth millions of dollars.

All of these issues must be discussed now by the School Board, the State, the Legislature, the City and concerned citizens and potential investors who recognize the importance of a quality school system to the recovery of New Orleans. 

We welcome this dialogue and any potential solutions that anyone would like to suggest. The lives of New Orleans’ children can no longer be squandered in inadequate facilities with low performing schools. All our community’s leaders must step up and help develop the possibilities.

In coming weeks, the School Board will begin hosting public meetings with citizens and community and business leaders to discuss how this City can obtain the quality education system it needs.