Ouachita Parish finance committee adopts 2025–26 operating budget, cites end of ESSER and use of reserves

The Ouachita Parish School Board finance committee voted to adopt the district's annual operating budget for fiscal year 2025–26 during its meeting, approving a balanced operating plan that relies in part on existing fund balance.

Chief Financial Officer Regina Mecas presented the budget and said the district is adjusting to the end of federal ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding. “ESSER has completely gone away now,” Mecas said, and the district must now absorb ongoing inflationary costs and previously subsidized items.

Mecas told the committee the budget assumes a projected enrollment decline of about 100 students (the district previously projected a 100‑student decline but experienced a 216‑student decline last year). Sales tax collections grew 5.4% in the most recent year, but the budget uses a conservative 2.5% sales‑tax projection; the budget also assumes about a 2.5% increase in property tax revenue. Mecas said retirement contribution rates to TRSL (Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana) declined slightly this year and that Office of Group Benefits (OGB) premiums are budgeted to increase, producing mixed effects on overall benefits costs.

On reserves, Mecas said the general fund ending balance is projected at about 14.2%, which she noted falls inside the board’s 10%–15% fund‑balance policy. The district will continue its annual $300,000 transfer from the general fund to the maintenance-and-operations (M&O) sales‑tax fund; the M&O fund balance is budgeted to decline by roughly $3 million in the coming year as the district completes delayed capital and maintenance projects.

Mecas outlined other fund details the committee discussed: special revenue (grant) funds are largely cost‑reimbursement and are budgeted to spend the amounts received; 1968 and 1995 sales‑tax funds support items such as the thirteenth‑check payroll distributions; and debt‑service funds are managed to match the legislative auditor’s guidance on not collecting more than one year of principal and interest in advance. She also said the district paid off previously outstanding QSCAB bonds on the West side in October 2024, reducing that fund’s debt service obligation.

Committee members asked about timing and the assumptions behind enrollment and revenue; Mecas said the budget team will revise the plan if enrollment materially differs from projections. When the committee called for a vote, members approved the budget by voice vote. The motion carried.

The committee did not provide a single line‑item amount in the public discussion; the budget document and detailed fund schedules were included in the meeting packet for review.

Ending: The budget now moves forward as adopted by the finance committee and will be posted with the district’s financial documents. Any future material changes the CFO recommends will return to committee review.