• By JEREMY HARPER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Apr 18, 2009 - Page: 14A

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CENTRAL — In an effort to avoid a repeat of last year’s election defeat, supporters of new taxes for Central schools are taking to the streets today to encourage voters to approve three ballot propositions May 2.

Dave Freneaux, a local business owner who helped coordinate the event, said about 100 local residents plan to meet at Central Middle School and branch out into neighborhoods to tout the ballot propositions. They plan to knock on the doors of frequent voters in Central, he said.

The campaign was organized by Citizens for Education, a collection of local business owners, parents and school volunteers who support new taxes for the district’s overcrowded and aging schools.

“Everything about success in any community is going to ultimately be tied to its education system and its economics, and the two of them are inexorably intertwined,” Freneaux said.

Voters last July defeated a proposed $98 million education complex funded by sales tax and property tax increases.

On May 2, they’ll vote on a smaller, $55.5 million proposal that upgrades some existing facilities combined with new middle and elementary schools. The plan is broken up into three propositions, which voters can approve or reject separately.

Freneaux said so far he has been encouraged by the community’s reaction to the proposals, but he added that turnout is key to the passage of all three propositions.

He said this year supporters of the improvements plan are making a stronger push than they did before last year’s election.

“We’re trying to do it bigger this year because we feel like it’s important that everyone come out and vote,” he said.

Central broke away from the East Baton Rouge Parish school system in 2007 and formed its own system, taking with it a high school, a middle school and two elementary schools.

Now the district is trying to handle an expected wave of new students over the next several years. School officials say the system’s facilities can’t handle that growth, and they say the middle school is beyond repair.

The private group’s efforts are separate from an educational campaign that the school system is undertaking.

Louisiana law bars school boards from campaigning for tax elections, but school systems can provide information about the propositions to voters.