BOARD SAYS NO TO PAY INCREASES; CITY'S TEACHERS WOULD HAVE MOVED UP ON SALARY SCHEDULE

A proposal to grant salary schedule advancement for teachers and other district employees was soundly rejected during a special meeting Wednesday of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education.

If approved, the proposal would have granted salary increases on established salary schedules based on years of service and professional development for all eligible employees. The measure would have added an estimated $340,000 to the school district's 1998-99 budget.

Steve Wright was the only board member to support the proposal. Dr. Bob Fox was out of town and did not attend the meeting.

"The teachers have been great, and I think for morale purposes and everything if the money is there we should be able to grant the slide- overs on the schedule," said Wright. "Hopefully next year we'll be able to give nice raises."

Superintendent of schools Dr. Dan Tallent had recommended that the teachers be given the salary increases.

The school board voted in May to freeze all salaries and other spending in an effort to reduce budgeted expenditures by about $1 million during the next school year. During a meeting June 29, administrators announced the district's financial status outperformed estimates by some $700,000 because of unexpectedly high state and local revenues and reduced spending.

Board members said they discussed the possibility of salary increases after learning of the school district's improved financial status. However, they told administrators they wanted a complete end-of-the-year report before making any budget decisions.

That report, which was not available until Wednesday, indicated $185,000 in deficit spending remained after adjustments to last year's budget. The deficit suggested the board needed to concentrate on recovering reserves rather than additional spending, they said.

"I've always found that you're in much better shape if you plan a budget based on what you have rather than what you expect to get," said board member Bob Blank. "I feel like we should get our financial situation in order before we start looking for ways to spend it."

Board member Mark Carver agreed. He said he didn't feel comfortable adding $340,000 to the budget when the board had already agreed to freeze spending.

"Really, it would have been financially premature to take these monies that everyone's talking about and distribute them when in effect they need to be applied to the deficit," said Carver. "We've already been through it; everybody's already taken their medicine, and we're ready to move on. I just hope what this does is put us in a position where next year we can do something significant for the staff."

National Education Association chapter president Brenda Woemmel said the board's decision was a blow to everyone in the school district. Teachers pay to continue their education based on the assumption they will advance on the salary schedule, she said.

Said Woemmel: "I don't think this is a day for jubilation in the public schools, because the teachers have already been lost. Children of this district have already suffered the loss."

Tallent said although he was surprised by the board's rejection of the salary scale movement, he doesn't believe the school district will suffer because of the decision.

"I think that our staff and everyone are professionals, and they're going to do a good job at teaching kids," said Tallent. "The board does make the final vote on those kinds of issues, and we have to go on from there."