LaSalle school employees to receive stipends

Every full-time employee of the LaSalle Parish School System will receive a one-time stipend this year after the LaSalle Parish School Board voted unanimously Oct. 13 to go beyond what the governor’s executive order requires.

Employees in positions that require a degree will receive $2,000, and those in positions that do not require a degree will receive $1,000. To qualify, employees must have been employed full-time as of Oct. 1, 2026. The official count date is Oct. 30.

The total cost for all of the stipends is $756,588.76, LaSalle School Superintendent Jon Garrett said. Business Manager Sara Andrews said $112,930.76 of that will come from the system’s general fund which allows the board to pay more employees than what the governor’s order required.

The stipend was discussed in the board’s Finance Committee meeting before the regular meeting. Garrett said the governor’s executive order required school boards to approve the payment as a stand-alone agenda item, which the system then reports to the governor’s office.

“We are again asking that we pay all of our employees and not just the ones that were mandated by the governor in his executive order,” Garrett said. “So we are asking for the $2,000 for positions requiring a degree and $1,000 for positions not requiring a degree, and not leave anybody out as long as they were employed with the system by October 1st of 2026.”

Andrews said board members received a summary of the amounts, along with the state’s guidance on how to make the payments.

Although the board unanimously approved the policy for stipends it’s been using for many years, board member Marcia Cooksey cautioned employees that the payment is not guaranteed in future years.

“I just want our teachers to realize, and that’s how it’s stated here, that this is a one-time opportunity right now for those teachers and administration that the governor’s plan doesn’t include, and that each year we have to study this,” Cooksey said. “Mr. Garrett’s done great as far as coming up with the funds to include everyone for this year, but I guess in your home budget, don’t count on that money until you get it, just in case our funds are really tight in years to come.”

Garrett said the system should have more notice next year.

“When the MFP Task Force (created by the Gov. to study the formula) comes back in January, they’ll have some very specific information and guidelines to give,” he said. “So we wouldn’t be in the same situation that we were in this year, where we literally found out in June.”

He said a January answer would give the system more time to work through its options. “But your point is taken,” he told Cooksey.

Board member Jessica Lasiter asked how many school systems pay the stipend to more employees than the governor mandated. Garrett said he could not give a number without checking. “I would say the majority do,” he said.

“For everyone to still get the stipend, even though they’re not in what the governor mandated, is pretty special,” Lasiter said.

Other financial business

The board received the monthly financial report from Andrews, which covers checks written through Sept. 30. Expenditures over $10,000 are highlighted with an explanation in member’s packets with Andrews noting the total, $5,576,000, is a little higher than usual because more than $1 million was transferred between checking and investment accounts.

“We had some suspicious activity on our payroll account, and so they suggested that we close that and reopen a new one, and so we’ll be moving money around until we close that account,” Andrews said.

She said any fund showing a negative balance carries a note explaining why, usually because the system is waiting on a reimbursement or state allocation. “Many of our federal funds, we have to spend the money, request reimbursement, and we’ll get that deposit later,” she said.

The board accepted donations made to parish schools in August and September. Andrews said the report is much larger than July’s now that school is back in session. Some of the notations included:

• Central office: $900 for the apples program

• Jena Elementary School: back-to-school supplies and treats for faculty

• Jena Junior High School: $1,300 for a science field trip and the basketball team

• Jena High School: $8,790 for various clubs

• Goodpine Middle School: vendor gift cards

• Olla Elementary: back-to-school supplies and treats for faculty and students from a local business

• LaSalle Junior High School: $6,260 in sponsorships, mostly for athletics

• LaSalle High School: $5,180 for clubs and sports, along with teacher supplies and a baby grand piano The report also recognized the people who donated time and materials to build the Jena High School band booster concession stand, the jumbotron and the pavilion. Andrews said those were not assigned a dollar value on the report, which counts only cash and checks.

Garrett said the system does have to estimate their value for insurance purposes. Officials put the pavilion at $40,000, the scoreboard at $350,000 and the concession building at $90,000, again, to have the new additions covered by the board’s insurance.

“So when you add all that up, it’s $480,000,” he said.

The board approved opening a purchase card account with Regions Bank as a pilot program. Andrews said school credit card statements now arrive with all charges lumped together, with no record of who made each purchase.

Under the Regions program, schools could issue cards to staff such as coaches and sponsors, who would use an app to photograph their receipts.

“It would just really help secretaries with reconciling,” Andrews said. She said the existing cards will stay active during the pilot “because it may not work out.”

“It should save everybody a lot of time,” Garrett added.

The board accepted a $1,500 bid from Georgetown High School for surplus weight room equipment from LaSalle High School. Andrews said the sale was the system’s first through Public Surplus, a free auction website.

“It worked out really well,” she said.