OPELOUSAS, La. (NEWS 15) — The St. Landry Parish School Board held a weekend retreat to address an $18 million budget deficit, discussing the potential closure of five schools in the district to help close the gap.
Superintendent Milton Batiste explained declining enrollment and the district’s failure to downsize quickly enough have contributed to the financial crisis.
“Declining student loss over, over the years, and not, and not downsizing, I think, fast enough. Also, to you know, we have, we have type twos, we have type ones that, you know, that we have dollars that go out there, you have families that are choosing other options, so again, it’s just a matter of trying to align our current staff with our current student population,” Batiste stated…