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S T TA M M A N Y FA R M E R.N E T
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W e d n e s d ay, Au g u s t 12, 2026
50¢N
152ND YEAR, NO. 44
DA Sims reelected without opposition
Race for St. Tammany Parish sheriff expected to be hotly contested BY ANDREW CANULETTE and JIM DERRY
the qualifying process is cleared by the Secretary of State’s office, those canStaff writers didates can begin readying themselves to take While voters across St. office in the not-so-distant Tammany Parish still can future. expect one of the longest Even with those races ballots in recent memory Sims now off the Nov. 3 ballot, when they head to the polls on Nov. 3, the possibilities were local voters still will decide on 31 cut nearly in half after qualifying other races that remain on the balclosed Aug. 7. lot when Election Day is held the Following the three-day period first Tuesday in November. An for candidates to qualify for local additional 10 amendments to the elected positions, 36 of a possible State Constitution will be decided 67 offices were all but decided that day, as will a proposal to rewhen only one person qualified for new a tax that funds maintenance the job. Once their eligibility and and operation of a Slidell-area
drainage district. District Attorney Collin Sims was re-elected without opposition, striking what would have been one of the most high-profile potential elections from the ballot. Sims became interim DA in 2023 after his former boss, Warren Montgomery, died in office. In early 2024, Sims easily won a special election over Vincent Wynne to complete Montgomery’s six-year term. With the 2026 race for DA never taking shape, the race for St. Tammany Parish Sheriff will no doubt get the most attention from St. Tammany voters. Four candidates qualified for
the spot held for nearly a decade by Randy Smith, who resigned in June after pleading guilty to attacking a man in a local steakhouse the month before. The men vying to complete Smith’s term are Robert Hodges, recently retired head of the Louisiana State Police; Scott Illing, a former U.S. marshal and state trooper; David Maki, who served in the STPSO for more than two decades; and Daniel Seuzeneau, former interim chief of the Slidell Police Department and a 20-year veteran of the unit. In that race, as in many others, if no one were to gain 50% or more of the vote, it would head to a Dec.
ä See RACE, page 2A
Parish Council OKs zoning changes in Goodbee
Q&A WITH ST. TAMMANY PARISH SCHOOL SUPERINTENDANT FRANK JABBIA
Fewer state dollars, decreasing enrollment on his mind as test scores improve BY ANDREW CANULETTE
Proposed subdivisions drew heavy criticism from area residents
Staff writer
Approximately 35,000 students and 5,900 St. Tammany Parish Public Schools employees headed back to campus on Aug. 10 for the first full day of the 202627 school year. Frank Jabbia is among them, now in his 33rd year in local public education with the past 51/2 years spent as the school district’s superintendent. Each year brings different opportunities, Jabbia said, as well as its own unique challenges. St. Tammany Farmer editor Andrew Canulette caught up with the superintendent before the school year started. Following are six questions and answers from their discussion. It’ll be six years in November since you were appointed superintendent of schools for St. Tammany Parish. What’s been the most challenging thing you’ve faced in that time? COVID (mitigation) was such an up and down time, and it went on for two years. In 2020, things were unknown. That was hard on everyone, without question. But I think the next year, when we had to go back to wearing masks and a good portion of the community had gone antimask, that was the toughest part. There were conflicting opinions, but we had to follow the rules and that upset some people. But honestly, every year has some tough moments. They might not be as extreme as that, but there’s always something that keeps you on your toes. Is it fair to say, at least right now, that unexpected something has to be the governor’s mandate that Louisiana school districts use Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) money to pay for employee stipends? (Editor’s note: MFP is the state’s annual formula for determining the cost of providing a minimum foundation of education in all public elementary and secondary schools. It calculates the baseline funding needed for each student to ensure they have the educational foundation necessary for future success. A statewide constitutional amendment that would have given educators a pay raise failed in May, and the state Legislature approved Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan to cut $170 million from the MFP to pay for another year of teacher stipends, instead. Landry also urged the Legislature in June to create a school-funding task force, which it did unanimously. That committee must recommend a “revised or replacement formula” of the MFP program
12 runoff. Three of the 12 seats on the 22nd Judicial District bench also will be decided by voters across St. Tammany and Washington parishes. Two local attorneys were elected to the judiciary without opposition — Blair Alford in Division C, who will replace retiring Judge Richard Swartz; and Michael Cochran in Division I, replacing Judge Reggie Badeaux. There will be races on Nov. 3 to replace retiring judges Martin Coady, Scott Gardner and Alan Zaunbrecher. Meanwhile, judges
BY JIM DERRY Staff writer
we have and enrollment projections. We make cuts, or additions, depending on the school community (and those decisions are made before June when this decision was made.) We have to be good stewards of public dollars, of course, and there’s been a loss
An overflow crowd of residents at the Aug. 6 meeting of the St. Tammany Parish Council largely spoke against changes to the zoning map that would allow two proposed subdivisions to move forward in the Goodbee area just west of Covington. Most of the crowd left the chambers unhappy. Following more than two hours of debate and 36 speakers sharing their views, the council voted 10-4 to approve the first reclassification and 8-6 on a second, each of which changes the current rural residential district to a suburban district, allowing for more homes to be built. The requests for the changes were made by Jeff Vallee, a local developer who represents H1 Associates, who had been previously denied twice before gaining initial approval last month and final approval on Aug. 6. During the meeting, residents of the area — and some who live in other areas of St. Tammany Parish — asked council members to “listen to your constituents,” with many arguing that allowing the changes would worsen flooding and traffic concerns that have affected the area for decades. “I have had five 100-year floods since 1985,” said local resident John Dale. But council members who gave approval argued that the developer had acceded to a number of requested changes. The vote came after an April study commissioned by parish government stated St. Tammany should add more than 17,000 new homes over the next four years to keep up with growth and with a plethora of homebuyers relocating from the southshore. Martha Cazaubon, who represents the district, said she has been studying this issue for more than two years. Originally opposed to the efforts of Vallee and H1 to build these subdivisions, she said the developer has agreed to every change she has proposed to them, and she voted to approve both measures. She pointed to recent fixes to flooding infrastructure and recommendations by engineers
ä See JABBIA, page 2A
ä See ZONING, page 2A
PHOTO BY GRANT THERKILDSEN
First grader Levi Landry shakes hands with Supt. Frank Jabbia on Aug. 6 at Marigny Elementary near Mandeville. by Jan. 1, in essence eliminating the MFP program and creating a new method of distributing an estimated $4 billion annually to the state’s school districts.) Losing $9.8 million from our MFP was completely unexpected. And more than that, it was the timing of it. We do annual projections, and we try to find the “sweet spot” between the amount of staff
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