Voters will decide April 30 on the request for tax increases by the Tangipahoa Parish School District 116 to support the sale of $187 million of bonds to desegregate the parish’s public schools following the resolution of a years-long suit.
The bonds would finance the construction of five new schools and renovations at 30 existing district facilities.
The federal desegregation suit was filed in 1965, but lay dormant for decades before being revived in 2007 by the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In March, U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle ordered the school board to put the tax measures on the April ballot. The judge could require the board to collect the taxes if voters reject the plan.
The NAACP opposes the new taxes, which include a 1% sales tax and a 29.5 mill increase in the school property tax.
“We do not support the massive taxes proposed to be saddled on the people of Tangipahoa,” said chapter president Patricia Morris.
Melissa Stilley, the school system’s chief academic officer, said the district would use the money to comply with desegregation while increasing the graduation and literacy rates. More than 19,400 students attend district schools.
Tangipahoa Parish is located between New Orleans and Baton Rouge in southeastern Louisiana. The district’s general obligation bonds are rated A-plus by Standard & Poor’s.
