Schools budget vote set today

• By MARSHA SILLS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Jun 17, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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LAFAYETTE — Today is the last chance to comment on or question school officials about the district’s proposed $383 million budget before it is approved later today.

A public hearing is scheduled at 4 p.m., followed by a special meeting for final adoption.

The board also meets for its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. today. The agenda includes two potential executive sessions — the board’s annual evaluation of Superintendent Burnell Lemoine and an update on civil litigation over the district’s claims of shoddy construction at N.P. Moss Middle School.

The board filed suit against contractor Ratcliff Construction and architectural firm Corne-Lemaire in July on claims of shoddy construction at the 10-year-old school.

Last month, the district began the appeal process for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal to review the judgment that dismissed Corne-Lemaire from the suit based on a retroactive application of a 10-year statute of limitations.

Ratcliff was dismissed from the suit earlier this year based on a five-year statute of limitations. The appeal only applies to the Corne-Lemaire decision.

The board’s appeal likely won’t head to court until later in the fall. The court does not convene in the summer and the next docket is scheduled for September.

Water intrusion within the school’s wall systems caused the school to close in late 2007. Students were dispersed to two separate locations for the remainder of the school year. The district filed its lawsuit after Corne-Lemaire and Ratcliff refused to cover the estimated $3 million in repairs to the building.

 Those repairs are still being phased in on the campus, but students returned last fall.

The repairs are one of the district’s self-funded projects being carried forward in the district’s 2009-10 budget at a cost of $1.4 million.

The budget has been available for public inspection since June 4.

This year’s $383 million budget includes an estimated 7 percent reduction in sales tax revenue to account for the nation’s faltering economy.

The country’s economic crisis also cushioned the district’s budget with federal stimulus money for Title I programs and programs for students with disabilities.