CHANGES WOULD MEAN TROUBLE FOR DISTRICTS

Jackson public schools hired 12 teachers based on added money from Senate Bill 380.

Cape Girardeau schools are implementing an A-Plus Schools program, thanks to a Senate Bill 380 grant of $203,828.

Scott County Central teachers this year received their first pay raise in four years because of added money from Senate Bill 380.

Whether school administrators like Senate Bill 380 or not, most have tried to work the legislation in their favor, taking advantage of additional money whenever possible.

Budgets have been formulated, pay raises approved and contracts signed based on Senate Bill 380 figures.

But the courts, the legislature and voters could change the rules in midstream.

An appeal is likely, but the prospect of a change in state funding midway through the year has school officials nervous.

Jackson Superintendent Wayne Maupin said, "If it would fail, it would have drastic consequences for us."

Jackson hired 19 teachers this school year. About two-thirds were new positions created, thanks to Senate Bill 380 money, the superintendent said.

"Our district has benefited from Senate Bill 380," Maupin said. "We have not received a high percentage of state funding in the past. The bill gives us a little more share of the funds available to public education."

Senate Bill 380 and its tax increase brought no such windfall of state money to Cape Girardeau public schools. Business Manager Larry Dew said the district is slated to get about the same amount of state money that it received in 1992-93.

Among its provisions, Senate Bill 380 rewards districts for increasing local tax rates. It also requires districts to have an operating levy of at least $2.75. Cape Girardeau was above that minimum, so it didn't get the new local and state money that some neighboring districts got.

But Senate Bill 380 wasn't a total wash for Cape Girardeau. The district did receive a $203,828 grant to establish an A-Plus Schools program and expanded its Parents as Teachers program through Senate Bill 380 money earmarked for that program.

Scott County Central Superintendent Ray Shoaf said, "If this thing goes before a vote of the people in November, we have a mess.

"If it goes to a vote of the people, people have a chance to vote to cut their taxes. Everyone wants to cut their taxes."

But he expects legal appeals and arguments to precede any vote of the people.

Scott County Central has issued contracts, remodeled buildings, ordered textbooks and school buses based on Senate Bill 380 budget projections.

The district gave teachers a pay raise this year for the first time in four years.

"If I have to go back at Christmas and take that back, someone is not going to be very popular."

Jackson Business Manager Howard Alexander said schools will take a wait-and-see approach because so many questions remain unanswered.

He wonders if the judge is talking about throwing out all of Senate Bill 380. Would this ballot question have an impact on the Proposition C rollback waivers that many school districts, including Jackson, approved last year?

And what about school districts that raised their local levies to comply with Senate Bill 380 rules? Jackson's rate went up 12 cents to $2.75. Some districts went from $1.25 to $2.75.

"I think people should really be concerned," Alexander said. "I think Jackson could survive, but some smaller districts could be in trouble, especially if they have already committed those bucks."