Beauregard Parish finance committee OKs allocations from remaining 2023 bond funds for athletics, parking and technology

The Beauregard Parish School Board finance committee on Monday, Oct. 6 voted to allocate portions of the district's remaining 2023 bond funds to athletic facilities, a parking project and classroom technology, and heard a financial report showing sizeable increases in sales-tax collections.

Committee members approved using $150,000 from the remaining 2023 bond proceeds for DHS athletic facilities, $125,000 for the Pinewood parking lot on Male Branch Street, and $100,000 for Chromebooks and interactive smart boards. The committee also was told that district funds were balanced as of Sept. 30 and that two sales‑tax accounts showed roughly 41.8% and 42.9% increases compared with the prior year.

The allocation for athletics was approved after board members amended the agenda language to broaden the item from a softball/baseball focus to “DHS athletic facilities” so the funds can address multiple sports and site needs. A staff member who presented the request said the district’s athletic facilities “are in dungeons and I would like to bring them out” and argued that incremental work now would avoid larger, costlier repairs later. The amendment passed on a voice vote; the committee then approved the funding allocations by voice vote, with no opposing votes recorded.

The finance presentation noted the district’s overall funds were in balance as of Sept. 30 and highlighted two sales‑tax categories that have increased year over year: “sales tax 1966” up 41.81% and “sales tax 90” up 42.85%. When a committee member asked whether staff had a breakdown showing the source of the sales‑tax gains, the presenter said the district reports only collections and does not receive a line‑by‑line explanation of the increase.

On the technology request, staff explained the district is a Google (Chrome OS) environment and prefers Chromebooks as the most cost‑effective option for most students. Presenters acknowledged that some dual‑enrollment or higher‑education coursework performs better on a full laptop because of certain Microsoft Office product interactions but said they are procuring Chromebooks with larger local storage and are converting some older laptops to Chrome OS to address those cases.

The committee did not identify any opposing votes on the bond allocations; items will proceed to the full board as required by the district’s process. Committee members also approved routine agenda and minutes items before taking up the bond funding proposals. The finance committee referred the specific procurement and project bids to staff to pursue standard bidding and contracting steps, with the purchases to be presented for full‑board action where required.