In March, Southwest Louisiana families will be able to go to a website to find information about every public and charter school in the state.

“You will be able to see the contracts, the payroll, administration, whatever the costs are and the performance of that school,” said State Treasurer John Fleming. He was keynote speaker Thursday at the West Calcasieu Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon meeting in Sulphur.

The Louisiana Legislature passed School Choice into law last year. The new website, which Fleming assured would be user-friendly, will help families compare schools. His office was handed the task because of a new law that demands school transparency.

Other educational options, not just private, public and charter schools, can be chosen. However, funds must be used on approved educational expenses. Certain students will be prioritized. Parents will begin signing up in the spring.

Fleming also explained what the Treasury office does, highlighted some accomplishments and announced he would be running for Congress against Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D.

“We have three main functions,” he said “We invest your tax dollars to get the safest but highest return possible, and some of that is federal money too, and that’s billions of dollars.”

Last year, the Treasury had a record return on its investment of $450 million.

The Treasurer is chair of the bond commission, and state bonds are rated by S&P. In the past year, the rating was upgraded from AA- (five below the top rating of AAA) to AA, the second-highest rating.

A website everyone needs to visit

“The third thing that we do is something called unclaimed property,” Fleming said. “Do  you realize that one in six Louisiana residents has unclaimed property.”

So far $804,342,619 has been returned from the Treasurer’s Office to individuals who forgot about a utility deposit they never recouped, left money in a bank account or never got a tax return for some reason or the other. Those are only a few examples.

Fleming said the money is harder to return than one might think. One man was owed $20,000 but he would not return phone calls because he thought the unclaimed property calls were a scam.

Currently, there is $300 million in the unclaimed cash account.

Go there by typing the following into the browser. LA Cash Claim. Search names and cash amounts. Sometimes folks might not find their own names, but they might find the name of someone they know.

Fleming said he pushed back when Bank of America wanted to be an authorized fiscal agent. He did it because Bank of America denied banking services to religious organizations, gun manufacturers and fossil fuel producers.

“Incidentally, Bank of America is going to be visiting with me later this week, and they want to talk about this,” he said.

Fleming applauds the recent decisions by Morgan Standley, Bank of America and Wells Fargo to leave the Net Zero Banking Alliance, a United Nations-backed coalition of banks dedicated to advancing global net zero climate goals through their financing activities.

“We want clean air, clean water. But unfortunately, there’s no way to do that by ending fossil fuels altogether,” he said. “Technology is not there, and nobody expects it to be there by the year 2050.”

Finally, Fleming expressed the state’s need for insurance reform.

“Our insurance is too high. It has nothing to do with secondary insurance or Lloyds of London,” he said. “We just have laws that are too lax, and people sue.”

He believes insurance reform and a transition to no personal state income tax will “guarantee that people start coming back into the state.”

The West Cal Chamber hosts monthly business luncheons with keynote speakers. To find out more, call the West Calcasieu Chamber of Commerce at (337) 313-1121.