Caddo Parish Schools Major Culprit For Shreveport’s High Property Taxes, Continue To Under-Perform

This week, we are looking at why Shreveport has the highest property taxes in Louisiana, who is responsible for it getting to this point, who can fix it, and the effects these policies have on the Shreveport area. 

Today, we look at the Caddo Parish School Board, which is where the largest percentage of Shreveport residents' property taxes go.

"Our huge culprit here is the Caddo Parish School board.  In the year 1970, when we crossover from segregated to desegregated in Caddo, we had 62,000 kids enrolled," explained political consultant Elliott Stonecipher.  "We now have 38,000 and dropping,  Our millage has skyrocketed.  Our sales tax has doubled, and we have more schools now than we did with 62,000 even though we only have 38,000 students."

Stonecipher says the Caddo Parish School Board is not cost effective.

"We have a 76 or so millage, Caddo Parish school tax.  That is a good 20 mills more than it should be."

And despite the amount of money spent on the school system, it is still an under-performing school system.

"Caddo Parish School system has lost confidence with anybody and everybody in a general sense that has learned how much more we pay for these underperforming schools."

Stonecipher says that with the amount Shreveport residents are paying in property taxes, plus private school tuition costs on top of that, many are looking at the other side of the Texas border since the costs are a wash and schools are what Stonecipher describes as "exemplary."

Tomorrow, we will look at how population has played a factor in the rise of Shreveport's property taxes.