Livingston Parish voters reject budget cuts, keep familiar faces on school board

Voters in Livingston Parish chose continuity over fiscal austerity in Tuesday's school board elections, reelecting two incumbents who promised to tackle teacher compensation. The races for District 3 and District 5 were the only contested seats on the nine-member board.

Cecil Harris, the board president from Denham Springs, secured his third term with 58% of the vote. Harris, who founded an educational publishing company, campaigned on expanding facilities at Denham Springs High and remained open to a new one-cent sales tax to fund teacher pay raises. His opponent, Chris Taylor, the chief operating officer of Shamrock Marine, argued against the tax and advocated for finding funds within the existing budget to support more restrained athletic upgrades.

In District 3, Republican Jeff Frizell won re-election with 78% of the vote. Frizell, a former teacher and administrator, stated that providing teacher raises would be a priority for the next four years. He defeated Philana Webb, a Denham Springs resident who ran without a party affiliation and focused her campaign on improving student evaluations and supporting students with disabilities.

The board manages the state's ninth-ranked school district, which serves nearly 24,800 students. The district employs more than 3,800 people and operates on an annual budget exceeding $397 million. Complete but unofficial returns confirmed the victories for the two incumbents.

The election results indicate a preference for the current administrative approach among voters in the two contested districts. Harris and Frizell will continue to lead a board overseeing a large, high-performing educational system in Louisiana.