CAPE SCHOOLS SET $22.6 MILLION BUDGET

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education has approved a $22.6 million budget for the 1995-96 school year, a plan that spends about $550,000 more than the district will receive in revenues.

The school has over $4 million in reserves, so the $550,000 will come from those balances, explained business manager Steve DelVecchio.

The board approved the budget at its Tuesday meeting with little comment or fanfare.

DelVecchio explained that board members got their first look at the budget draft over two weeks ago. Since then, he has answered questions from board members, met with the board's finance committee, the board president, the superintendent and other district-level administrators to make sure all the questions were answered.

DelVecchio said the school district likes to keep between two and three months operating costs in its reserve fund. Taking $550,000 from that account will leave the district with just over two months expenses in the bank.

The expenditures for 1995-96 will total $22.6 million. Anticipated revenues will be $22.1 million.

Of the total, salaries and benefits make up the largest chunk, about 77 percent of the total. Money spent for classroom instruction is about $13 million.

The school district's expenses are ever-rising, DelVecchio said. In 1993-94, expenditures were $19.8 million. They rose to $21.1 million in 1994-95 and will be over $22 million this year.

Revenues have increased, too. In 1993-94, revenues were $20.6. In 1994-95, revenues were $21.1 million, and revenues are expected to go over $22 million this year.

Local taxes account for 47 percent of the budget.

The budgeted receipts are based on assessed valuation of property in the school district, which totals $293.4 million. The tax rate is $2.88 per $100 assessed valuation.

One area of concern from a budgeting perspective is the school district's attendance, DelVecchio said.

As part of Senate Bill 380, the Outstanding Schools Act, Cape Girardeau was designated a "hold harmless" district.

That term means the district gets the same amount of state money per pupil every year that it got in 1992-93, which is $739 per student.

However, as enrollment goes down, as it has for the past three years, the total amount of money the school district receives from the state goes down also.

The school district gets about 28 percent of its funds through the state's formula for distributing taxes to schools.

Another area of concern is student transportation. The school spends over $480,000 annually to transport children to and from school. The state reimburses school districts for some of those costs, but Cape Girardeau only gets reimbursed for about half that amount.

The school board also received the audit report from the 1994-95 school year. Among suggestions auditors made is that employees should get travel allowances as part of the regular payroll system. Similarly, when employees are used to collect gate receipts at sporting events, pay for those duties should be including within the payroll system to assure proper reporting, the auditors said.

In addition, the auditors recommended more precise record-keeping for expenditures on student activities, daily attendance reports and bus ridership.