Concordia Parish schools will spend about $12.7 million less than the Natchez-Adams School District this year.

Yet the parish district, which does have 700 fewer students, is making major renovations to all but one of its 10 schools.

A $1.3 million addition to Vidalia High School and new science labs and libraries at every school but the still new Ferriday Junior High, are all made possible by local taxpayer dollars, Business Manager Tom O’Neal said.

And it’s money they willingly gave up. In Louisiana school boards must put ad valorem tax increases on the ballot for approval. In November the people of the parish renewed a 13-mill property tax for the next 10 years.

&uot;The people have been really good to us,&uot; O’Neal said.

&uot;I think we are very conservative here. The people have been good to us, and we aren’t going to abuse that.&uot;

Because of the self-levied tax, one of O’Neal’s goals is to show the people where their money is going.

So once instructional costs, bills and teachers are paid &045; by a combination of local, state and federal dollars &045; the dirt starts moving.

Vidalia Lower and Junior High got new roofs last year, and Ferriday High School is currently under renovation for a new, slightly larger band hall.

Concordia Parish schools receive money from a local sales tax, while Natchez schools get 1 percent of state sales tax dollars.

The Concordia Parish projected budget for 2004-05 spends $4,757,385 more than the district’s revenues bring in.

In the Natchez-Adams district, the projected budget spends $2,148,765 more than the revenues.

When the districts spend more than they take in, the money comes from their fund balances, or regular savings accounts.

At the start of the 2004-05 year the parish fund balance was $7,464,683, and in the end it is projected to be $3,594,798.

In Natchez the starting balance was $3,054,487, and the ending number is projected to be $2,401,367.

Ad valorem taxes fund education in Adams County too, but short of a few public hearings, the people of the county have no say in the matter. The Natchez-Adams School board is not elected &045; its members are appointed by the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Alderman.

In Mississippi, school boards in need of more local money agree upon a proposed budget and present the county board of supervisors with an amount needed. The number is converted into mills and the supervisors are required by law to provide the school board with what they requested.

Last summer, the Natchez-Adams school board raised property taxes by 6.36 mills. The increase was necessary, Superintendent Anthony Morris said, to make up for a loss in ad valorem numbers following the closure of International Paper and less funding than expected from the state.

With no major construction plans under way and no such future plans made public, the biggest physical change in the Natchez schools is the reorganization of which grades go to which schools &045; a plan designed to save money.

By putting all students of one grade in the same school, the district is going to be able to cut back on classes, and therefore the number of teachers needed.

The last building renovations to the Natchez schools were energy efficient changes done several years ago.

&uot;With our economic situation as it is, it is very difficult for us to try to look at building new buildings now,&uot; Morris said.

Teachers and support staff

Of the parish’s $24 million budget, nearly $900,000 goes to student support and just over $1 million goes to instructional staff support.

Instructional money covers teacher salaries, while student support covers administrative costs.

A new teacher with a bachelor’s degree and no experience makes $24,887.

In Natchez, the same teacher would make $29,125, or $4,238 more.

In the parish, a teacher with the highest certification possible and 25 or more years of experience would make $36,276. In Natchez, that number would be $54,775, or $18,499 more.

The majority of the teachers &045; on both sides of the river &045; are paid by state funds, though some receive federal money. Local money can be used to supplement teacher salaries.

In Concordia Parish a sales tax has funded a bonus check for employees in recent years.

In February, the parish’s elected school board approved a 2.5 percent of base salary raise for certified employees and a 5 percent of base salary increase for non-certified employees.

Natchez-Adams employees have not received a local pay raise in recent years, but the district has funded an average 8 percent pay raise promised by the state.

The raise is the last part of a promise legislators made to teachers five years ago, but in the 2004 Legislative session lawmakers failed to fully fund the raise, leaving the districts with the responsibility. The district also had to absorb teacher health insurance costs previously covered by the state.

The problem was compounded in Adams County due to economic struggles after the closure of several major industries.

&uot;The bottom line effect on us, was we lost some students,&uot; Morris said. &uot;We do think that has leveled out, so we won’t have any major losses in the future that we know of, but it does mean a little bit less money.&uot;

The Natchez-Adams district will spend $21 million of its $37 million budget on instruction, a classification that includes teacher salaries, classroom supplies and textbooks.

Concordia Parish had its own unfunded state mandate last year, too, though. The state teacher’s retirement system raised the percentage employers have to pay for teachers from 13.8 percent to 17.3 percent, and other employees from 8.5 percent to 18.8 percent.

The increased retirement costs are included in the 2004-2005 budget, but O’Neal has said they will become a burden on future budgets.

Administration

The Natchez-Adams superintendent will make $19,211 more this year than the Concordia Parish superintendent.

Morris received a $7,000 pay raise for the 2004-05 school year, bringing his salary up to $107,000.

In the parish, Superintendent Kerry Laster will make $87,789 this year, ranking her position 41st out of more than 90 parishes.

Superintendent salaries are set by the school boards.

The 2004-05 parish budget allots just under $600,000 to general administration and $1.6 million for school administration, which includes 11 principals and nine assistant principals.

In Natchez the bulk of the money goes to six lead administrators who work in the central office and make an average of $73,425 a year. The administration includes the superintendent, assistant superintendent, personnel director, business manager, director of operations and a special services director.

The Natchez-Adams District had eight principals and eight assistant principals in 2004-05. Natchez High had three assistants, Robert Lewis Middle and Morgantown Elementary and McLaurin had one. Central Alternative, Fallin Career and Technology Center and Frazier and West Primaries did not have any. Under the restructuring that will go into effect in the fall, the assistants will be rearranged.

Concordia Parish does not have an assistant superintendent and is led, below the superintendent by three main directors and several supervisors. A director serving for 15 years would make an average of $53,000 a year. Supervisors make around $51,700, high school principals make $52,400 and assistant principals make $46,700.

Since job titles and descriptions vary from state to state and with experience and degree, making an exact comparison between states cannot be done.

Students

According to 2-year-old numbers on both states’ education Web sites, Concordia Parish spends $9 more per student than Natchez-Adams.

O’Neal said the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has moved educational money management more into the hands of each individual district, which can apply for a variety of federal grants that bring in large sums of outside money.

In the parish, children benefit from three five-year Rapides grants, a vocational grant at all three high schools and a textbook grant. The district received a LEAP21 grant to fund tutors for the high-stakes state test and a GEE remediation grant for the high schoolers.

The America 2000 grant updated the technology in classrooms, and the Reading First grant implemented a new reading program in the lower grades.

Young readers in Natchez have benefited from $188,000 in Barksdale Reading Foundation money, grants from Entergy and several smaller grants.

Educational Enhancement Fund dollars go directly to teachers to buy supplies and extras for their students to use in the classroom. The money comes from the state and was cut drastically at the start of this school year.

Two years ago Mississippi teachers received about $500 in EEF money, this year they got around $100.