School Tax Vote Set for next March

An election to re-impose two expiring school property taxes has been set for Saturday, March 26, 2022, after the Lincoln Parish School Board voted unanimously at last night’s meeting for a resolution to that effect.

One 10 mil tax is for the entire parish, and is projected to collect about $4.8 million/year from property owners. The other 2.53 mil tax is for the Ruston School District only, and is estimated to collect about $800 thousand yearly.

The monies collected go toward operating and maintenance budgets of the district.

Business Manager Juanita Duke said, “The Ruston School District No 1 is mainly for utilities, and the parishwide millage helps to support operations for the school system, pay for health insurance costs, additional utilities, instructional materials and supplies, and purchase of school buses.”

See here the resolution and related documents.

Bond attorney Grant Schlueter from the NOLA law firm Foley & Judell was on hand to brief the board.

Duke also reported on sales tax collections for the month, and presented the board with the monthly financial report.

District Superintendent Ricky Durrett said that the cases of covid-19 continue to decline among the student population.

“Last week were at about we were about 23 kids out, right now we’re at 19, 14 exposures, and 5 positives. We’ve got about 5 kids coming back to school in the next two days. So that number is going down and is still continuing to go down, and going in a good direction for us,” he said.

Lincoln Parish School Board Meets Tuesday

The Lincoln Parish School Board will have its regular monthly meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, November 2) at 6:00 PM, Lincoln Parish STEM Center, 525 Tarbutton Road.

Here’s the agenda.

National Merit Semi-Finalist Jason Willis Recognized

Ruston High School Senior Jason Willis was recognized as a semi-finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program at last night’s meeting of the Lincoln Parish School Board.

Assistant Superintendent John Young told the board that Willis was one of about 16 thousand semi-finalists nationwide. This number is less than 1% of all US high school seniors, he noted.

Said Young, “Jason will now continue in the competition for some 7500 national merit scholarships worth more than $30 million.” He added, “Over 90% of the semi-finalists will likely attain finalist standing, and about half the finalist ultimately win the National Merit Scholarship.”

Willis was at the meeting, along with his parents Gary and Amy.

The board scheduled a November 2 public meeting, where a resolution will be considered to call a March 26, 2022 election for re-imposition of two expiring property taxes.

Last voted upon in April, 2012, one of the taxes is parishwide and currently is levied at the rate of 9.44 mils, and the other is for the Ruston School District only, and costs property owners 2.28 mils.

Originally, the parishwide tax was approved for a rate of 10.25 mils, but the rate has incrementally declined as property values have increased.

The board approved the payment of November salary supplement checks in the amount of $3200 for certified employees and $1600 for non certified. Business Manager Juanita Duke said this was $200//$100 increase over the supplements paid last year at this time.

The personnel report was presented by Personnel Director Doris Lewis.

School Board Meets Tonight

The Lincoln Parish School Board will meet tonight (Tuesday, October 5), 6:00 PM, Lincoln Parish S. T. E. M. Center, 525 Tarbutton Road.

Here is the agenda.

School Board Meets Tomorrow

The Lincoln Parish School Board will meet tomorrow (Tuesday, September 7), 6:00 PM, at the Lincoln Parish S. T. E. M. Center, 525 Tarbutton Road. Prior the the full board meeting, the Finance Committee will meet at 5:00 PM, at the same location.

Here are the agendas.

Lincoln Schools Open for Students Thursday, August 19

Lincoln Parish Schools will have the first day of classes for students in grades 1-12 on Thursday, August 19, District Superintendent Ricky Durrett told the Lincoln Parish School Board at last night’s monthly meeting.

Said Durrett, “Our goal is to have everyone in person, every day, all year long. We know from what we’ll see coming out in the next few days with scores – test scores and things – those who came to school performed much better.”

Durrett said the custodial staff had been busy sanitizing school rooms and offices, and that bus drivers, teachers, and secretaries would be helping those efforts.

Personnel Director Doris Lewis reported on a lengthy list of personnel changes for the month.

Here is the list.

Business Manager Juanita Duke presented her financial reports.

• Sales Tax Receipts
• Financial Statement for June 2021
• Health Plan Financial Statement

Duke also presented the final revised budget for the fiscal year ended 6/30/21, which the board unanimously adopted.

Lincoln School Board Tomorrow

The Lincoln Parish School Board will meet Tuesday, August 3, 6:00 PM, Lincoln Parish STEM Center, 525 Tarbutton Road.

Here is the agenda.

School Board Meets Tonight

The Lincoln Parish School Board will meet tonight (Tuesday, July 13), 6:00 PM, Central Office, 410 South Farmerville Street.

Here is the agenda.

Notable agenda items include:

• A lengthy personnel report. See here the list.
• Millage rates for 2021. There are some increases and some decreases. See here the memo.
• Purchase of the Ruston High School Baseball field from the City of Ruston. A negotiated price for the 5.44 acre tract is listed as $1,050,000.00. See here the memo.

School Board Tonight

The Lincoln Parish School Board will meet tonight, Tuesday, June 1, 6:00 PM.

A couple of things are notable. This is the first meeting of the board at the central office, 410 South Farmerville Street in over a year.

Also, the salary schedules for 2021- 2022 are included in the board information documents, and will be voted on by the board.

See here all the documents.

Public Records Requests Filed for Proof of Statements

Lincoln Parish News Online filed two public records requests yesterday asking for proof of statements made last week by the commander of the Louisiana State Police and by the Third Judicial (Lincoln, Union Parishes) District Attorney regarding the Ronald Greene case.

It has become quite clear that nothing said by anyone connected to this case can be relied upon. After twelve years of covering government and its people, we’ve learned that “If it ain’t in writing, it didn’t happen.”

We requested from the Louisiana State Police documentation proving the delivery of case files and receipt thereof from the agencies as was claimed last Friday by Louisiana State Police Col. Lamar Davis. We understand that it is LSP procedure to require a signed and dated receipt whenever case files are submitted.

From Third Judicial (Lincoln, Union Parishes) District Attorney John Belton’s office, we requested a call log or any correspondence that would verify his allegation last week that he asked the U. S. Department of Justice or the FBI to intervene in the Greene case “…on the day I received the report…”

There is a six-month gap between when Belton said he contacted the FBI and when Davis alleges files were delivered to the FBI.

Here are our requests:

Louisiana State Police Public Records Request

Third Judicial District Attorney Public Records Request

We will report what we learn from the agencies promptly.

If they try stonewalling again, we’ll report that, too.