We examine the exact a priori majorant \(M_\gamma =\sup \limits _{q\in A_\gamma }\lambda _0(q)\) of the least eigenvalue of the Sturm–Liouville problem \(-y''+qy=\lambda y\) , \(y(0)=y(1)=0\) , with a potential \(q\in C[0,1]\) of the class \(A_\gamma \) determined by the conditions \(q\le 0\) and \(\int \limits _0^1|q|^\gamma dx=1\) , where \(\gamma \in (0,1/2)\) . For this majorant, we prove the strict estimate \(M_\gamma <\pi ^2\) . The last estimate was known earlier in the case where \(\gamma <1/3\) .