The $99 million dollar tax was a monster of a proposal last month.

When things fell through, it is safe to say there was a period of recovery for those on the board.

“Well it’s pretty much heartbreaking to tell you the truth,” says Anthony Stanberry.

Anthony Standberry represents District #1 for the St. Landry Parish School Board.

He says the meetings and discussions in the last month have entailed going back to the drawing board.

“Talking about rearranging some courses…rearranging some of the…may have to do soe of the hard things and we have to do some cutting,” says Stanberry.

Stanberry says a poverty-stricken area like St. Landry deals with limited funds and essentially no tax base.

Some of the discussion has entailed closing schools and consolidation.

A motion that Stanberry says will not be drastic.

“Should we consolidate, it’s not like we are moving the child from across the parish to another area of the parish. It’s just maybe across town,” says Stanberry.

Something that Stanberry takes issue with is the letter grade of schools in the parish and how they are linked with standarized testing.

“The state has us rated A, B, C, D, E, F and it’s not a true reflection and it’s not a true reflection as to what goes on in the schools,” says Stanberry.

Because of this, Stanberry says schools will start teaching more towards the test as opposed to more towards the course itself.

Stanberry says it is no secret the parish needs help with finding funds.

That is why he encourages residents to buy in-parish regardless of the high sales tax.

“I would hope that our people would continue to support us as a parish, spend our dollars in parish so that we can accumulate those tax dollars in order to do what we need to do with our children,” says Stanberry.

Stanberry says the next school board meeting will come on May 3rd.