Only nine of 108 precincts approve school tax

By Melissa Gregory

July 18, 2000 Web posted at: 3:06 PM EDT (1906 GMT)

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana (The Town Talk) -- After the thousands of dollars and hours spent preparing the Rapides Parish School Board's community schools plan, only nine precincts voted yes to both taxes intended to fund it.

Voters on Saturday rejected two taxes that would have funded the desegregation plan.

Complete, but unofficial, results from the parish's 108 precincts show that both taxes failed by a 67 percent to 33 percent margin. One tax was a 10-year, 20-mills property tax and the second was a 10-year, half-cent sales tax.

The two would have funded the $15 million plan, raised employee salaries, placed magnet programs at 17 schools, eliminated student fees and upgraded technology.

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Superintendent Patsy Jenkins estimated approximately $500,000 in attorney fees and between 2,500 and 3,500 in staff hours had been spent on the plan.

Money to prepare the plan, which had been approved by the federal court, came from the district's General Fund.

The results of both taxes were almost identical -- 13,486 (67.15 percent) against the property tax and 6,597 (32.85 percent) for it; 13,494 (67.33 percent) against the sales tax and 6,548 (32.67 percent) for it.

Now that the voters have told board members they will not support the plan, board members wait to see what -- if anything -- the U.S. Justice Department and the federal court will order.

School officials and board members voiced fears before the election that a realignment of school attendance zones and reassignment of personnel would be ordered to further desegregate Rapides schools.

However, board President Scott Linzay said Saturday he did not anticipate calling a special board meeting immediately.

A special board meeting for Monday, July 31, was scheduled before the election.

Five precincts - four in Alexandria and one in Forest Hill -- approved the property tax.

Those precincts were at North Bayou Rapides Elementary School (38A), L.S. Rugg Elementary School (precincts 51 and 52), Bolton High School (53) and Forest Hill Elementary School (85).

Even though those precincts approved the property tax, the margins were hardly overwhelming. The biggest margin was 13 votes at Rugg's Precinct 51.

On the flip side, the biggest defeat for the property tax was at Precinct 28, J.B. Nachman Elementary School in Alexandria. 353 people at that polling spot rejected the property tax, while 186 approved it.

Another 311 people voted against the property tax at Precinct 10, Buckeye High School. At that same precinct, 144 people voted for the property tax.

Four precincts approved the sales tax -- at Pineville's J.I. Barron Elementary School (17B), North Bayou Rapides Elementary in Alexandria and both precincts at Rugg Elementary.

Again, the approval margin at those precincts was slim. Precinct 51 at Rugg had the widest margin -- 11 votes.

And, again, the voters at Nachman cast the most votes against the sales tax. At that location, 349 people voted against the sales tax, while 192 voted for it.

A total of 20,083 votes were cast in the property tax election, while a total of 20,042 votes were cast in the sales tax election. Rapides Parish has 77,235 registered voters.

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