The Allen Parish School Board has approved additional funding for employee salary supplements that will be paid later this month.

The additional funding, provided from $1.5 million in excess Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, will be added to the supplemental pay originally approved by the board in July. The funds were awarded to help schools deal with the COVID-19 pandemic

The board also approved the continuation of the MedPlus gap insurance for another year for all employees with the HRA plan at an additional cost to the board of $200,000.

“We had some leftover federal funding from the ESSER grants that we did not have plans for so we wanted to use them on supplements,’” Finance Director Lindsey McClusky said.

The school board had until Sept. 30 to use the funds, she said.

Under the new plan, teachers, counselor, nurses and other professional staff will receive a total supplement of $3,275. Support personnel including custodians, bookkeepers, aides and cafeteria workers, will receive $1,775.

Assistant principals, principals, coordinators, supervisors and directors will receive $3,700.

“We had a half a million dollars left over from ESSER funds and we chose to give that to our employees instead of doing projects with it,” Superintendent Brad Solieau said.

“I know what this means to our employees,” he continued. “The board could have very easily not taken a chance or the risk, but I think everyone has done a good job financially in this district and I think we can roll the dice a little bit and take a chance on our people.”

Soileau said he is still hopeful that the board can get the casino funds back to fund supplements in the future. The funds were lost last year when the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana withdrew its funding for local agencies.

In the meantime, he said the board will reevaluate the supplements each year.

In July, the board agreed to use nearly $1.8 million in local sales tax and general fund revenues to issue the original salary supplements which were amended Monday to include the ESSER funds.

The board also agreed to use surplus funds to continue paying the MedPlus supplemental health insurance for another year for employees and family members with the HRA plan. The plan helps lower employees deductibles, reduce out-of-pocket costs and lower premium costs.

“In my opinion, we do this this year and see where we are next year and make the decision year-to-year,” Soileau said. “In a sense, this is a pay raise for our employees.”

Board member Carleen Mahaffey said the gap coverage is another incentive for employees, especially support workers who need health care insurance coverage.