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Dr. Christopher Smith was celebrated last week as he ended his tenure as Griffin Middle Academy principal. Smith served as principal of GMA for the past six years and is moving to be closer to family. In the picture above, members of the 4-H club honored Smith on Veteran’s Day Nov. 10.
Laura Arvin
Some East Carroll Parish School district employees will be receiving letters soon reminding them that, as their contracts come up for renewal, some of them will not be rehired due to the fact that their positions are paid with federal pandemic relief money set to end next year.
Meagan Brown, superintendent, updated the school board last week about the situation during a finance committee meeting. “We would probably want to keep every one that we have, we just can’t afford it,” she said.
East Carroll Parish, like most schools in the U.S., received money from the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund to mitigate pandemic- related negative impacts. Brown said that the employees hired to positions paid with ESSER funds should be aware of the possibility of their position being eliminated, but some people may have forgotten.
The end of federal pandemic relief funding coincides with the fact that East Carroll schools have lost about 158 students since the 2019-2020 school year, which translates to fewer dollars allocated from the state’s Minimum Foundation Program and the federal government’s Title 1 program. District staffing numbers, however, have stayed the same, resulting in impending budget problems.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, East Carroll schools were operating under a deficit budget. In the 20212022 school year, federal ESSER funding kicked in. “So for the last three years, we’ve been out of deficit spending, but after this year, we will go back to deficit spending,” said Brown.
“The way we would try to help to curtail that is through attrition. As someone leaves, and we don’t have to have that position, we don’t hire that position back,” Brown told board members. “Then we also monitor our budget.”
Thirty-three employees were hired with ESSER funding over the past three years, Brown said, and the ultimate goal will be to determine the priority of positions. “The first thing we’re going to look at is the need,” she said. “We have to look at what we need in order to be able to maintain our district.”
School districts in Louisiana receive state funding based on the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), a formula established in 2013 to determine the cost to provide each Louisiana student with the minimum educational foundation necessary for future success. The resulting calculation is then used to help distribute funds among parish, city, and other local school systems.
Title 1 provides federal funds to schools with high percentages of low-income students and is a pass-through from the state based on student enrollment.
ESSER III money needs to be allocated by September 30, 2024 and spent by January 28, 2025.
