business news - Deborah Burst

esigned, those positions have not been filled.
Every time a position opens, we look to see if
someone else can pick up their workload or if
it needs to be filled. We’re trying to look at ways
to cut back on the budget wherever possible
without having to lay off anyone.
Q: How has attrition affected the
classroom?
A: It hasn’t impacted the classroom. Most of it
has happened in our central office and support
facilities. There’s been a 2 percent reduction of
staff in schools and a more than 7 percent reduction
at our central office, which includes supervisory
positions. This accounted for $5 million
in savings in next year’s budget, which started
July 1. When you have to tighten your belt, I’d
rather tighten it up here in the central office and
not in the classroom with the teachers.
Q: Can you continue to trim your
budget through attrition while
avoiding tougher choices?
A: You get to a point once you do these types
of things, you have to look at the next step. It
will be interesting to see what the state does
with us as far as funding. It will be interesting
to see what sales taxes look like because, come
December and January, you have to start looking
at next school year.
St. Tammany Parish Public Schools
Superintendent Trey Folse and Assistant
Superintendent Cheryl Arabie.
I’ve been saying our class size is very good
and something we’re very proud of. Our student-to-teacher
ratio in the elementary schools
is 19-to-1 and the state allows up to 25-to-1. I
hope we don’t have to look at that as an area to
save money but we may have to down the road
if finances don’t improve.
Q: You have several major projects
in progress along with the opening
of the new $52 million Salmen High
School. While schools in New
Orleans have languished for
decades, how has St. Tammany
managed to improve education and
infrastructure every year?
A: St. Tammany has constantly been at the top
and it goes back to how much the community
values and supports education, whether it’s
teacher salaries, construction projects or millage
renewals. Our PTA has the highest mem-
A Louisiana Leader in Providing Audit, Consulting, and
Tax Services to the Financial Service Industry
Barry Kyle, CPA, Eric Bosch, CPA, Cheryl Haspel, CPA and Ted Mason, CPA
New Orleans 504.835.5522 | North Shore 985.892.5850 | Baton Rouge 225.296.5150
www.laporte.com
bership by far out of any parish in Louisiana.
We have an unbelievably supportive community
with parents who value education.
But with that come high demands. When
they pass your bond issue with 80 percent
approval and they continue to give you the
money, you need to make sure the schools are
top of the line. In five years, when we go back
to the public and ask for money to renovate
and remodel, we want them to have confidence
that we have spent their money well and we are
deserving to continue to build what they need
and what’s best for the kids in the parish.
Q: People are always saying that
the younger generation of students
is more problematic than the older
generation. This is your 25th year
working in the St. Tammany school
system. Do you see a difference?
A: I really don’t. I have a son who just graduated
from LSU and a daughter who will be a
junior at LSU. The technology and instant
access to everything is different, but I think
kids are still kids. They want to be loved, they
want to be disciplined, they want to have rules
and standards to live up to, and I think we
need to challenge them with that. The goal is
to keep the bar high because I believe anyone
will rise to the expectations you set for them.•
LaPort LaPort Sehrt Romig Romig
Hand Hand is Southeast Southeast
Louisiana’s Louisiana’s exclusive exclusive
member member of the RSM
McGladrey McGladrey Network, Network, a
national national affiliation affiliation with
RSM McGladrey, McGladrey, Inc./
McGladrey McGladrey & Pullen, Pullen,
LLP, one of the
nations’s nations’s largest largest
accounting accounting firms. firms.
September/October 2010 23