Equitable and adequate funding are prerequisite conditions for the education of our children.

Cutting programs and moving money around to fill holes that simply appear after an election is an old concern that is seldom answered to the satisfaction of the inquiry from the community.

We talk about high-quality education from Pre-K through high school; we have had and still have too many classrooms with uncertified personnel. We have had bonds, millages and taxes passed or my favorite term (ROLLED OVER) because in reality there are times when the tax payers do not have to give approval to borrow money.

Simply put, I once asked the administration about one such issue. I said if you could do this without our approval it would be a done deal, I was told (ya right). Looking back over the past decade, we have had major expenses.  Through taxes, borrowing, insurance and FEMA, things should be looking better.

We have had poor records of putting the money where it was supposed to be dedicated. It is taking too long for things to be settled (LPE remains unopened). Months had gone by following the ESJE fire before there were plans in place to work on the part of the school that was burned.

Tax exemption/community giveaways are problems. Do we the citizens control this? We need to pay much more attention to the elected officials in our state, be the voice of reason and remind them of how they were given the opportunity to represent the citizens of the state and not just self interest groups.

When taxes are due, the school system has something in place to collect payment. Then the time comes to discuss the issue after it goes on for a few years and it was decided that more legal people were needed — two more firms were hired (taxpayers had no input).

When the final meetings were ended, the fact is there were deals made and the taxpayers had no input. The news came out that there were things on the table. Next we find part of the deal was to settle for less than owed, spend $2.8 million for football fields, when the district was showing major money problems, talking about not opening the elementary school that lost a portion of its site in a fire and after four years the high school on East Bank was finally opened, still waiting to complete the elementary school after Hurricane Isaac.

Citizens are asked to fund the education of our children (we know it is our responsibility), we should be given the respect to know    how the money is being spent with all changes explained.

Without hesitation there are things that need to be rectified and changed.

Board Members, your Constituents would like to hear from you. There are seven days before the election; have some communications with the voters.

We need to represent ourselves better at the board meetings, ask your questions there or away. I would tell my students all the time the person your parents vote for may live next door to you and some did, talk to them about concerns.

Saying NO TO NEW TAXES in this Parish is your right. Don’t let the dangling carrot confuse your decision, which is for the best interest of the parish.

— Carolyn J. Batiste, LaPlace