Avoyelles School District gets more ‘bang for the buck’

Superintendent says Avoyelles 28th in getting most from education funds

In the “bang for the buck” category, the Avoyelles School District ranks in the top half of the state’s public school districts.

Superintendent Blaine Dauzat recently completed an analysis showing how much each of the 70 public school districts spent per point on its 2018-19 state District Performance Score (DPS).

The purpose of the report was to determine how well the district is doing based on its available financial resources.

Using that basis for comparison, Avoyelles ranks 28th, spending $114.99 per DPS point in the 2018-19 results -- ranked from least to most spent.

Using just the Performance Score results, Avoyelles was 45th out of 70 with a high “C” average.

“This is a ranking of who gets the most out of the financial resources they are given through state and local funds,” Dauzat said.

Dauzat’s analysis does what one of our high school football coaches likes to call “flipping the field” -- going, for example, from your 20 yard line to the opponent’s 20.

Instead of being 25th from the bottom in the DPS ranking, Avoyelles is 28th from the top in the academic achievement it gets from the dollars it spends.

Avoyelles receives the lowest amount of state Minimum Foundation Program funds and is second to last in local funding for the public school district.

While the academic achievement indicates Avoyelles schools overall are doing better than might be expected, the district’s teachers’ pay ranks at or near the bottom, just as its educational funding level does.

Avoyelles had the third-highest improvement from the 2017-18 results and is the most-improved district over a four-year period. Five years ago, when it ranked 65 out of 70 districts with a “D” grade.

Only two other districts in the state had a bigger difference between their DPS ranking and Dauzat’s “paid per point” report. Both did 19 points better than their DPS score ranking.

Acadia Parish ranked 27th in the DPS report and was 8th in Dauzat’s comparison, spending $100.34 per DPS point. Lafayette was 33rd in DPS and 14 in the “bang for the buck” comparison.

Five of the top six districts in Dauzat’s report are also the top five districts in the DPS ranking.

Ascension is first in dollars per point (DPP) at $89.37 and was fourth in the DPS ranking. Vermillion is second in both lists, spending $92.75 per point. Lafourche is third in both rankings, spending $93.59. Desoto was fourth in DPP and 12th in DPS, spending $94.18 per point.

Zachary School District was first in DPS ranking and fifth in Dauzat’s report, spending $96.32 per point. Vernon Parish was sixth in dollars-per-points with $97.30 per point and was fifth in the DPS ranking.

On the other end of the list, St. Helena Parish was 70th in both lists, spending $230.30 per point. City of Bogalusa was 69th on Dauzat’s list, spending $220.97 per point, and ranked 68th on the DPS ranking. Madison Parish was 68th on dollars-per-point at $192.98 and was 69th in the DPS results.

“As you can see, Ascension, Vermillion and Lafourche lead the way in getting the most out of their dollars,” Dauzat said. “Acadia, Lafayette, Avoyelles, East Baton Rouge (+13) and Tangipahoa (+13) ‘over-perform’ their resources by the widest margin.”

Dauzat has suggested this type of comparison, which takes into consideration a district’s financial resources, might be added as a component in the annual District Performance Scores.

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