School Declares Emergency

The Evangeline Parish School Board last week declared an emergency so it could put a $28.5 million bond package onto the November ballot for a third time in the last 13 months.

Voters in Ward 1 rejected a tax increase to support the bonds in October 2007 and again in July. Proposals for a tax increase to build or repair schools in the Ville Platte area of the parish have failed nine times since 1983.

After the failed election in October, the U.S. Justice Department asked a federal district judge to close the predominantly black school and order the school board to build a new one.

U.S. District Court Judge Tucker Melancon last week suggested the board try again to pass a tax increase for the school project.

If approved, the bonds would provide $20 million to build a new high school south of Ville Platte, $8 million to renovate the existing high school for use as a middle school, and $500,000 to upgrade an existing elementary school.

If the tax increase is not approved, the Justice Department wants the high school closed and its 400 students bused to the other three high schools in the parish.

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