Based on the best available information and in the absence of any opposition, the the US District Court determined that that the school district was entitled to relief from judgment from a 60-year-old. consent decree with respect to student assignment, faculty and staff composition, transportation, and extracurriculars. It was deemed that the need for all court-imposed measures tied to these areas, including majority-minority transfers, had reached its end. Accordingly, the court relinquished supervision over these areas.
The court then considered the district’s funding mechanisms, and the resulting imbalances. The school district relied on eleven separate taxing jurisdictions, known as school bonding districts, to fund school construction and facility improvements. Those valuations of the properties within these districts vary drastically. Consequently, the revenues generated via the millage rates results in an enormous disparity in per-pupil funding capacity.
For this reason, the court opted to maintain its oversight to address the Calcasieu Parish School Board’s (CPSB) desegregation obligations with respect to the funding of academic facilities.
The CPSB was ordered to devise a plan to move to parish-wide bonding for academic facilities, and submit the proposed plan to the court within 180 days of that order.
The court did, however, permit the existing bonding districts to continue for special projects such as athletic facilities.
It was further ordered that the bond election scheduled for November 3, 2026, may proceed because it was already on the ballot, but no additional bonding elections or tax elections could be proposed without court approval.