Evangeline School Board Seeking Money For Testing

The Evangeline Parish School Board Superintendent Toni Hamlin says his district needs to come up with millions of dollars soon for a state mandate.  The state requires that the parish must pay for student online testing.

Hamlin says the start up cost for the online testing will be close to two million dollars to purchase the infrastructure that they need like wiring.  Hamlin adds their district will also need to buy about 2,000 computers, which she estimates will cost at least 600 hundred dollars for each unit.

Hamlin believes one way to possibly find the money was through the E-rate Priority Two program, but the idea was shot down.  The school board applied for that money from the federal government.  It's based on the number and free and reduced-priced lunches, but the the district was denied.

The money will need to be found before the new online testing program goes into effect for the 2014-2015 school year.