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School finance report: Beauregard Parish officials report higher tax receipts, food-service audit findings and a $20,756 ag allocation
Summary
District finance staff reported higher ad valorem and sales-tax receipts for March, outlined preliminary findings from a multi-month school food-service audit that identified undercharging of adult meals, and announced a $20,756 allocation for high school agriculture programs that must be spent by June 30, 2025.
During the April 10 meeting, Beauregard Parish School Board finance staff reported revenue increases and provided preliminary results from a parish-wide school food-service audit.
Finance staff said ad valorem tax receipts continue to come in and that March brought roughly $530,000 in collected ad valorem taxes. Sales-tax receipts were reported as higher in March as well: one sales-tax account increased about 20.48% with collected revenue of $978,652 and a second sales-tax account rose about 29.87% to roughly $1,753,000, according to the finance presentation.
On school food service, staff said a lengthy audit (about six months) found compliance issues related to a la carte pricing and adult/non-program meal pricing. The district acknowledged it has undercharged adults (staff, visitors) for meals for some time. Finance staff and the school food director reported the adult lunch price charged to staff/visitors last year averaged $2.75 but audit pricing reflected an adult plate cost of $3.13; staff said rising food and labor costs make current plate cost estimates nearer $3.53. The audit is not yet finalized; staff said they will present final findings when the audit is complete.
Board members asked whether the district could or should provide free meals to staff; staff responded that federal child nutrition reimbursement covers student meals, not adult meals, and that covering adult meals would require the district to pay the full plate cost from general funds.
Finance staff also announced an additional allocation of $20,756 to support high school agricultural (AG) programs across the parish. Staff said the allocation is to be spent by June 30, 2025, and that principals, bookkeepers and AG teachers at each high school have been notified. The money is intended for instructional materials and supplies for vocational agricultural, agribusiness and agriscience courses and can be charged to the district's designated instructional object codes.
No formal action was required on these informational items.
