ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS DEFENDED

Cape Girardeau school officials Monday defended the school district against charges that it's "top heavy" with administrators.

At a meeting of the finance committee of the Citizen Advisory Commission on Education, officials said the number of administrators in the district now is equal to recommended state guidelines for a district of Cape Girardeau's size.

Superintendent Neyland Clark said the guidelines establish ratios for administrators to the number of students.

"What you will find is we're very close to the recommended level at the administrative level," Clark said. "We're not at the minimum."

The superintendent said recently proposed budget cuts aimed at compensating for a $1.2 million funding shortfall reflect the state guidelines.

"We looked at programs where we're above the minimum standard or that were in fact above the preferred standard and tried to cut back to help those programs struggling to maintain the minimum standard," he said.

But committee members said they've heard criticism from some teachers who believe there are too many counselors and administrators in the district.

James Englehart, director of secondary education, said the number of counselors and administrators is either at or below the recommended state level for each school.

Clark also defended the counselors, who are "saddled with federal paperwork" to assure the district's compliance with federally mandated special services programs.

"Our counselors are maintaining a multiple role as social worker, psychologist and part-time counselor," said Clark.

But committee member Jim Limbaugh said there's a perception in the community that counselors "either don't do their job or get paid too much for their jobs."

Limbaugh, president of Boatmen's Bank, said there is a "public fervor" to closely scrutinize management in business as well as education.

"I've never heard, `you've got too many first grade teachers,' or `you've got too many junior high English teachers,'" he said. "But I have heard, `we've got too many counselors and too many administrators.'"

But Clark said that since 1960, administrative costs have continually been about 4.3 percent of school budgets across the state. "Our administration portion of the budget is right at 4 percent," he said.

Committee members also questioned administration salaries at the meeting. According to budget figures released by the district last year, administrators' 12-month salaries ranged from about $50,000 to more than $70,000.

Secondary principals' salaries ranged this year from $50,800 to $57,800, and elementary principals' salaries ranged from $45,300 to $49,000.

The average 9-month salary for teachers in the district was reported last year to be $27,240. The state average is $28,880.

Clark said administrators are paid more than teachers for the same reason managers are paid more than employees in a business.

"The classroom teacher goes in every day and hits it as hard as I do, but has totally different responsibilities," he said. "My butt's on the line every day, and I don't have a 20-year mortgage paid off from the security of living in Cape Girardeau all my life."

Pat Ruopp of the school board said that he thought administratively, the district couldn't afford further staff cuts. "From my perspective, we're bare bones," he said.

Although teacher and administration salaries in Cape Girardeau are near the state average, Bob Fox said many city residents have much smaller incomes. Fox chairs the facilities committee of the Citizens Advisory Commission on Education.

"I think the bottom line is, the average salary in Cape Girardeau is about $18,000," he said.

"You've got a ton of people making below that, and when you've got a bunch of people who see what teachers make and see that administrators make twice that, they're not very sympathetic."

Committee members said that if the district plans to ask voters for a tax increase or bond issue, it needs to justify salaries and expenses.

In other business, the finance committee also heard reports from the commission's other two committees: programs and facilities.

Sue Balsamo, chair of the programs committee, said that group still is working on final drafts of various subcommittee reports.

She said the committee wouldn't recommend any further administrative cuts but would recommend that a formal evaluation be done.

Balsamo said the programs committee's greatest concern is that students in the district are forced to make too many transitions between grades and the transition from elementary to secondary school is too abrupt.

She indicated the committee has found a need for some type of middle school to house three or four grades in a central location, but said the committee would leave the decision up to the school board.

Fox said the facilities committee would recommend a new elementary school and middle school be built, nine classrooms added to Jefferson School, that three schools May Greene, Washington and L.J. Schultz be closed, and that new district lines be drawn.

He said the new schools would require some type of bond issue. The committee also will recommend that the portion of property tax that goes into the district's building fund be raised from its current 8 cents.