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Board reviews ITEP policy changes after governor’s executive order; superintendent appointment to local committee required
Summary
Board discussed revisions to policy D.F (Industrial Tax Exemption Program) following an executive order that removes job-creation thresholds and requires new committee composition and procedures; the board will add a resolution appointing the superintendent to the local ITEP committee by Feb. 28.
St. Tammany Parish School Board members reviewed proposed revisions to board policy D.F that align the district’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP) procedures with a governor’s executive order.
Terry Prevost, who presented the policy update, told members the executive order issued Feb. 21, 2024, removed job-creation requirements for ITEP awards and changed how local ITEP committees are composed and operate. Under the change, a local committee must include the parish president, the school-board president or the superintendent, the sheriff or the sheriff’s designee, and the mayor of affected municipalities. Prevost said the executive order also requires committee public meetings be held at a parish government facility and requires the committee to approve or deny applications by resolution before submission to the Louisiana Economic Development Agency (LED).
An administrative deadline Prevost told the board that LED notified the district it must pass a board resolution stating that it will appoint the superintendent to the local ITEP committee; that resolution must be approved by Feb. 28. The presenter characterized this as an administrative task to specify whether the superintendent or the board president will sit as the school system’s voting member on the committee.
Board discussion Board members voiced concerns about the change from elected board presidents to superintendents as voting members on the local committee. Board member Michelle Gallaher and others said it feels like a transfer of an elected official’s role to an appointed district official; members discussed the limits of local authority because LED or the governor may override local approvals or denials. Finance and economic development staff explained the parish committee will set minimum criteria consistent with LED requirements and may adopt a local rubric that could be stricter but would not bind the state decision.
Vote and next steps The board voted to adopt the revised policy language and directed staff to place the required resolution (appointing the superintendent to the local ITEP committee) on the agenda for the next Thursday meeting to meet LED’s stated deadline.
Ending Staff said they will return with the resolution for board approval and with any recommended local rubric language for committee review.
