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AMITE, La. (AP) — The federal judge in the desegregation case against the Tangipahoa Parish School System has appointed an accountant to analyze if the district can afford to build three new schools in keeping with the current plan.
The goal of building three new elementary schools is to help desegregate student populations as part of the 2010 desegregation order.
The Daily Star reports (http://bit.ly/1Pl7PfI) U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle ordered the audit and appointed Michael Bruno, a certified public accountant, to the job, which the district will pay for.
Pam Dill, attorney representing the school district, said the defendant's counsel is analyzing the order before making a response to it and cannot give any further comments at this time.
In the order, Lemelle said the defendants did not provide enough evidence to prove that it cannot afford to build the schools when it filed its "action plan" in February.
Lemelle ordered the defendant to file an action plan last fall after no progress was made toward building the schools.
The action plan states that the schools' construction would have to come out of existing funds since a tax to fund them failed to pass after Lemelle made the desegregation order in 2010.
It also said that putting existing money toward the new schools would hurt the district's ability to operate and improve current campuses.
In October 2013, the school system filed an alternative student assignment plan to avoid the expense of building new facilities, saying the district is facing financial difficulty.
It was rejected by Lemelle the next month, but without prejudice so that it can be filed again.
In April this year, both defendants and plaintiffs agreed to back an alternative plan that parties are currently working on, Dill said.
Like the plan filed in 2013, it would alter attendance zones to diversify student populations, among other changes, to avoid building new schools.
Bruno, who has 45 years of accounting experience, has audited several public school systems and is a certified government financial manager, Lemelle stated in the order.
The accountant would see if the district has sources or potential sources of funds to build the schools, whether financial statements reflect the funds' availability and if those funds would be enough to operate and maintain the new schools while operating and maintaining current schools.
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Information from: The Daily Star, http://www.hammondstar.com
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