Lafayette Board Proposes Balanced Budget

More deep cuts and a dip into its reserves means the Lafayette Parish School Board has finally proposed a balanced budget.

The board has agreed to use its rainy-day account to fund $2.5 million in staff appeals to restore some of the cuts, and another $1.3 million to close the deficit. Superintendent Pat Cooper denied the proposal and said he'll come back with an alternative.

After the board rejected Cooper's proposal Tuesday to restore a large chunk of cuts and use reserve funds to cover the deficit, the superintendent presented another tonight that instead used projected sales tax revenues to fill the holes.

"I think what we’re offering tonight is a really good compromise," Cooper told KPEL before the meeting. "It doesn’t use any of the 2002 sales tax. It doesn’t use any of the rainy day fund. We’re asking to fund about $6 million of what we think we’re gonna get in excess (sales tax revenues)."

The board didn't consider Cooper's budget at the meeting. The body and the superintendent must agree upon a budget by Sept. 15, or state law will require the district to use the 2013-2014 budget, Cooper said.