[StBernard] La. school boards sue to block vouchers

[Westley Annis]

La. school boards sue to block vouchers
9:30 AM, Jun 29, 2012   |   2 	 Comments

Written by
Mike Hasten
Gannett Louisiana
School boards in lawsuit
The parish school boards listed in the lawsuit are Ascension, Assumption,
Avoyelles, Bossier, Calcasieu, Claiborne, Concordia, Evangeline, Franklin,
Iberia, Iberville, Jackson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lincoln, Livingston,
Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist,
St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Vermilion, Washington
and Webster parishes. 

The city school systems in Baker, Bogalusa, Monroe and Zachary also are
listed in the lawsuit.

BATON ROUGE -- The Louisiana School Boards Association and 34 school boards
have joined the legal battle to undo Gov. Bobby Jindal's voucher program.

The association Thursday filed a lawsuit similar to the ones already filed
by the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the Louisiana Association of
Educators challenging the constitutionality of Act 2. The act implements a
statewide voucher program that uses the public school funding formula to pay
for students to transfer to private and parochial schools.

Association attorney Bob Hammonds said the lawsuit is similar to the ones
already filed and it will be consolidated with the other ones.

"School boards are concerned about the future of public education," he said.
"With the cuts they've suffered and will continue to suffer, Act 2 and the
MFP formula put public school systems in more peril than ever."

The formula has a built-in 2.75 percent increase to help boards cope with
rising expenses but it has not been funded in the past four years. Several
systems have had to lay off school employees, including teachers.

"Many systems have had to have reduction in force to make their payroll fit
their shortage," Hammonds said. "But when they lay off and don't replace
school bus drivers" and other employees "they may get a bill from the
retirement system for their share of the unfunded liability of the
retirement system. If they get a $50,000 to $60,000 per employee bill
because they laid off and didn't rehire someone to go into the retirement
system, the only way they can afford it is to lay off someone else and then
they get another bill.

"It's one thing to say we're not increasing your funding but another to say
we're not increasing funding but also increasing your costs," he said. "Most
systems are suffering severe consequences."

The parish school boards listed in the lawsuit are Ascension, Assumption,
Avoyelles, Bossier, Calcasieu, Claiborne, Concordia, Evangeline, Franklin,
Iberia, Iberville, Jackson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lincoln, Livingston,
Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist,
St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Vermilion, Washington
and Webster parishes. The city school systems in Baker, Bogalusa, Monroe and
Zachary also are listed in the lawsuit.

Hammonds said he received a notice from Lafourche Parish seeking to join the
lawsuit too late to be included in the original filing but an amendment is
expected because other parishes are still considering the decision.

Don Whittinghill, spokesman for the LSBA, said at least four more boards are
considering joining the suit and will decide by Friday night.

The next step is a July 10 preliminary hearing on the three cases. At that
time, Judge Timothy Kelley will hear motions. Hammonds said he expects the
state to ask the judge to dismiss the cases but as of Thursday, no such
request had been filed.