“Previously, I wouldn't have given us a good grade at all. But since we have (business manager Renee Hinton) in place, we're doing a much better job. I don't know if I'd give us a letter grade.”
“We had obviously hoped the judge would accept our agreement with the government. Dr. Fisk is disappointed the judge didn't adopt that recommendation. On the other hand, he appreciates the fact that the court said a sentence within the guideline range was inappropriate.”
“Money for schools is given through tax money. Every year there is a plan of what revenue is expected. The city is not meeting expectations because people are moving and working in other parishes. Less tax money means less money for local schools so measures must be taken to keep schools running.”
“There is not a trend of population growth in these areas. In order for a school to stay open, there must be an adequate amount of students there, and an indication that the population will grow to have children attend in the future. The sales tax projection is not meeting expectations. Every city has an expected amount of money expected to be taken in from local tax, and the two areas aren't meeting tax expectations.”
“When the paper mill closes, the parish will lose more money because people will move or work in other parishes, and less tax money will stay in the parish--which means the schools will lose money coming to them. Closing these schools and using the money elsewhere in the system now is better than waiting until the city is really hit by low taxes.”
“I would love to keep every school open, but the reality is you can't keep entire schools open for a few students. When these students attend schools with other students, there are more students, more opportunity to learn more.”
“It was a productive meeting. The group agreed to submit suggestions regarding the closing/consolidation of schools, but they know it's pretty much done.”