By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LUTCHER – Assessor Glenn Waguespack had some good news for the St. James Parish School Board when he delivered a report on property taxes.

The good news, he said, is that over the next three years, the parish is projected to add about $3 million in property tax revenue because of expiring industry contracts. The bad news, however, is that that projected revenue will not start coming in until 2011.

This year, the school system will see a drop of about $230,000 in property tax revenue. Because the district allowed for a $600,000 decrease, however, the district should be well prepared.

“This is probably the first year in about 10 to 12 years that we had just a slight downtick,” he said.

Before getting to the meat of his presentation, Waguespack lauded the board for the decisions it made when drawing up a budget for the 2010-11 school year.

“Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing. … You all made the tough choices,” he said, adding, “Let it be said that you do care about being fiscally responsible.”

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Superintendent Alonzo Luce gave a short report on the first couple of days of school in the district.

“I think day one we struggled a little bit with being completely ready,” he said.

One of the facilities that was not quite ready was Lutcher High School, which saw much use throughout the summer months. The constant use prevented workers from getting the floor as polished as Luce would have liked.

“They’re clean, but they’re not to the level we’re used to,” he said.

Other than that, though, he said there were no major incidents to report.

He also explained that the district’s dual enrollment program will be switching from Nicholls State University to River Parishes Community College in Sorrento. The switch was necessary because representatives from Nicholls said the school would no longer be able to offer the program completely free of charge. RPCC will waive all fees, he said.

“Our dual enrollment programs are doing very well,” said Luce.

He said enrollment numbers are at about the same level they were at the start of the last school year.

Also, board member Patricia Schexnayder chastised Luce for not recognizing the achievements of students at Fifth Ward Elementary during the last round of LEAP and iLEAP testing.

“I want the same recognition for my schools as I see for other schools,” said Schexnayder.