Ouachita Parish finance committee recommends budget revision after enrollment drop

The Ouachita Parish Finance Committee recommended that the school board adopt an operating budget revision for fiscal 2024–25 after staff presented adjustments driven mainly by lower state funding tied to a decline in enrollment.

Regina Mecas, staff member, told the committee the district is 274 students below projections for the year and that the shortfall reduced expected state funding by about $1,700,000. “We have lost students... we’re 274 students down for the year,” Mecas said. She said the enrollment loss accounted for about $1,100,000 of that reduction in the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) allocation, and that the draft revision currently shows a net change in general fund balance of negative $878,000.

The committee’s recommendation matters because it sends the revision to the full board for final approval. Committee member Mr. Geiss said he appreciated Mecas’s work and noted continuing uncertainty from the state legislative session in Baton Rouge; he also flagged several bills circulating that could further affect revenue. The committee voted to recommend the revision to the board without recorded opposition.

Mecas walked members through other notable changes in the draft revision. She said ESSER (federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding—a one-time federal grant the district had used in prior years—has largely ended and earlier ESSER allocations had supported recurring items the district prefers to keep. “We did not make any long term commitments out of those funds, but we have purchased some things out of those funds that we would like to keep,” she said, adding that reconciling those purchases into the operating budget will require tradeoffs.

Mecas reported several revenue and cost movements that shaped the revision: a local revenue representation payment to charter schools increased from an expected $500,000 to about $1,500,000; property tax collections for the 2024 calendar year were higher than budgeted (she cited 6–8 percent increases); projected general fund year‑end balance was about $21,700,000; and the district’s M&O (maintenance and operations) fund balance was projected near $28,900,000. She also noted a roughly 6 percent increase this year in employee health insurance costs, with employees picking up about 25 percent of the increase and the district absorbing the remainder.

On transfers and reserves, Mecas said the budget includes a $300,000 transfer from the general fund to district M&O for routine facility maintenance, a transfer to support the district’s self‑insured workers’ compensation program, and an internal printing fund transfer. She told the committee the general fund balance remains within the district policy range of 10–15 percent.

Committee members discussed staffing and ongoing enrollment uncertainty. Mr. Geiss said district leaders are managing hiring and staffing decisions in light of lower student counts and potential state changes to funding. Mecas cautioned that the figures presented are preliminary and that she will continue to refine the numbers before the board acts.

The committee made a motion and second to recommend the operating budget revision as presented; the chair called for the ayes and there were no recorded objections.