ADVANCE: SCHOOL VOTERS TO DECIDE ON BOND ISSUE, LEVY HIKE

ADVANCE -- Voters in the Advance School District will decide the fate of a $350,000 bond issue and a 38-cent operating levy hike in an election April 7.

"Thus far, everything has been positive," Superintendent Terry Pearcy said of the election campaign.

"We had a campaign committee formed by members of the community," he said. The theme of the election campaign is "Kids First."

"It has been an education campaign, not one to try to divide the community or anything like that," Pearcy said Monday.

The bond issue would finance construction of additional classrooms for the elementary school.

The operating levy hike would be used for improvements and repairs to school buildings, replacement of school buses, and the purchase of other equipment and supplies.

A four-sevenths majority is needed for passage of the bond issue, while the operating levy proposal would require a simple majority.

The bond issue would be retired over seven years, while the operating levy hike would be permanent.

"We hope the community will think in long-range terms," Pearcy said last month in discussing the ballot measures. "We want to have a good school district and this is vital for that effort."

Pearcy said the bond issue would be retired with a debt service levy that would average 43 cents annually over the seven-year period.

Combined, the two tax measures would mean an 81-cent hike in the current $1.62 tax rate.

Pearcy said additional classrooms are needed at the elementary school to alleviate overcrowded conditions. The school, built in the mid-1950s, and three portable classrooms serve 275 elementary school students.

The bond issue would finance construction of a building to house five classrooms, including a school library. The addition would replace the portable classrooms, which are about 20 years old.

If any money is left over from the bond issue, Pearcy said, it could be used to help fund repairs and improvements to school district buildings.

School officials had looked at replacing the aging high school, built in 1924. But they elected not to do so after an inspection by a structural engineer indicated that the brick building is in better shape than originally thought.

Instead, school officials hope to make repairs at the high school, as well as at other school buildings in the district.

Pearcy said repairs would include "an internal facelift" at the aging high school. But he stressed that the building, which would be 75 years old in 1999, will have to be replaced in the near future.

The superintendent explained that the April ballot issues are part of a long-range improvement plan.

"This is the first phase in a long-range building plan. At the end of the seven-year period that we have for the current proposed bond issue, plans are to assess the community again and look to building a new high school."

Pearcy said the 38-cent levy hike is needed to help replace an aging transportation fleet.

"We have transportation needs that need to be addressed. We haven't purchased a new bus in over two years and the current fleet is getting older, and getting a great deal of wear and miles on it."

The school district has seven buses and a van. Pearcy said that if the levy hike is approved, the district will be able to regularly replace its buses.

The levy hike, he said, is also needed just to help meet the school district's operating expenses.

About 525 students are enrolled in the Advance school system.

The district covers about 90 square miles and encompasses parts of three counties: primarily Stoddard, but also parts of Bollinger and Cape Girardeau counties.

Pearcy said school districts in Missouri are hampered by a continuing decline in state funding. As a result, many districts ultimately are faced with seeking increased local funding or closing down programs or even schools, he said.

"We are looking at trying to keep the existing staff in light of (budget) cutbacks," said Pearcy.

The school district has 37 certified and 16 non-certified personnel.

Pearcy said the Advance School District has a relatively low tax rate. "Of 16 area schools comparable in size and programs, our tax rate is 14th among that group."

If voters approve the funding measures, the school district levy would rank about sixth or seventh among the 16 schools, he said.

A homeowner with a $50,000 home would pay $77 more a year in school taxes, or less than $7 more a month, pointed out Pearcy.

Voters in the last four years have twice rejected a $1.4 million bond-issue proposal to construct a new high school.

But Pearcy said the upcoming election is unlike the elections of November 1988 and February 1989.

"I know there is a significant difference in what is being asked for," said Pearcy. "The plan is completely different." It involves totally different funding proposals and does not involve replacing the high school, he explained.

The latest tax levy proposal is a "conservative measure, not anything extra," he said. "We are just trying to maintain the programs that we offer currently."