STATE CAN EASE SOME SCHOOL-DISTRICT PRESSURE

Superintendent Dan Steska was in Jefferson City late last month testifying about an issue that's a little complicated but very important to the Cape Girardeau School District. He supports a Senate bill that would give a bump in state funding to so-called hold-harmless districts like Cape Girardeau and 62 others in the state.

Hold-harmless districts are those that receive more per-pupil money than they'd be entitled to under the state's complex funding formula for school districts. However, state aid for those districts is frozen at the 1992-93 level. Obviously, expenses have gone up considerably since then. The bill would provide annual adjustments based on increases in the districts' guaranteed tax base.

Steska believes the adjustments, however minor, would help equalize funding for districts like the one in Cape Girardeau. It is unknown how much more money the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Anita Yeckel, R-St. Louis, would generate for the Cape Girardeau School District or how much it would cost the state.

No one testified against the bill, but several other school officials, including those from St. Louis-area hold-harmless districts, testified in favor of it. Steska said it wouldn't take away any money from other districts.

Obviously, there is much more fleshing out of numbers to do with this bill. But anything extra would help our local schools at this point.

The district has been on the verge of being placed on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's "financially stressed" list for months. Part of the problem was the holdup in $1 million in state funds for the new Career and Technology Center. The money was part of the Hancock Amendment lawsuit settled by the Missouri Supreme Court last week. However, the money isn't here yet.

And there are other obstacles to overcome, including Gov. Bob Holden's plan to use capital-improvement money to balance the budget should the legislature refuse to use tobacco money for that purpose.

The Cape Girardeau district is in its current financial squeeze because it made a commitment to pay construction bills at the new Career and Technology Center even though the promised state funding was held up. That meant taking money out of other district operations. The district desperately needs for the state to release those capital-improvement funds.

Legislators have an opportunity to reward the district's promise-keeping efforts with serious consideration of the hold-harmless bill.