CAPE SCHOOL BOARD TO HEAR BOTTOM LINE

When the finance committee for the Cape Girardeau School District meets tonight, they'll have completed a difficult task given them by the Cape Girardeau Board of Education.

The finance committee will explain which of the district's proposed educational programs and building projects are possible based on the school district's current and projected revenues.

"It's the last piece of the puzzle," said Superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent.

Options could range from reinvesting the current school finances or proposing a tax levy increase or bond issue.

The 11-member committee will meet with the school board at 6:30 p.m. today at the Central Junior High School Cafeteria.

The finance committee report is the last of a three-pronged approach to creating the district's long-range plan. The process began last fall with a series of Vision Planning meetings to gather community input. By January, the eight-member committee had been expanded into three focus areas: educational programs, facilities and finances.

Each committee created a report listing its recommendations for the board. But the finance committee likely had the most difficult task.

The committee had to examine how to fund the recommendations from the other committees, Tallent said.

The programs committee recommended revising the technology curriculum, adding classrooms, and expanding the vocational-technical program.

The facilities committee recommended closing three elementary schools and building a new elementary school to replace them, relocating the seventh and eighth grades and locating a vocational-technical closer to a new high school.

But none of those recommendations can be undertaken until the school board decides what it can afford and when the process begins. Deciding what the district can afford was the task for the finance committee.

The members are Ken Dobbins, Ann Dombrowski, Jim Drury, Mike Kohlfeld, Jim Limbaugh, Howard Meagle, John Mehner, Debra Mitchell-Braxton, Gary Rust, Don Sherwood and Jim Wente.

The group started nearly two months ago with lessons on school finance and will finish today as experts on the financial condition of the Cape Girardeau School District.

The committee's job was to find ways to fund programs and building needs for the district, said Tallent.

"They started with a class on school funding and what our resources are. "And we looked at our current finances and projections."

After each of the weekly meetings, the committee requested more information from Tallent and the board office. "We'd talk about something and they'd ask for more information," he said.

The meeting tonight will be the last one for the finance committee.

After hearing from the finance committee, the school board should have all the pieces needed to complete its long-range plan. The board will meet with the original Vision Planning committee Oct. 17.

The final long-range plan will be adopted in November, about a month after its presentation at the Oct. 21 school board meeting.