`D-DAY' SET FOR JEFF CITY; MARCH 6 EVENT WILL STRESS SCHOOL MEASURES

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- In hopes of capturing the attention of state legislators and securing additional funding for education, the Missouri State Teachers Association is hosting a "Day of Decision" March 6.

Thousands of educators and other individuals interested in education from across the state are expected to converge on the state capitol to ask political leaders for more support for education.

Working with the MSTA to coordinate the Day of Decision, also called D-Day, are the Missouri School Boards Association and the Missouri Association of School Administrators.

Most area school districts, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson, are sending delegations to speak with legislators.

Chaffee and Oak Ridge districts will close their schools March 6 to allow school personnel to participate in D-Day.

Doris Ford, MSTA district president and a teacher in the Cape Public Schools, said: "We are not going up there to march or to be militant. We are going there to take information and to have people look us in the eye and tell us, `These are the reasons why we can't do things for education.'

"Schools just have to have more funding," she said. "We hear a lot about reform, but we don't hear too much about how we're going to pay for those major changes.

"Just to maintain what we have will take more money than what the governor has proposed.

"I estimate there will be a very big crowd," Ford said. "People will also be taking petitions of support they have gathered in their communities. Basically the petitions asked if people were in favor of one-third of the state's money going into elementary and secondary education.

"We realize that people are not too interested in new taxes, but they might be interested in redistributing money that is already there," said Ford.

Chaffee Superintendent John Payne said a commitment from 80 percent of that district's teachers to participate in D-Day prompted the Chaffee school board to cancel classes March 6.

"We will make up that day on March 15," said Payne. That is the date of the district MSTA annual meeting, which will be held at Southeast Missouri State University.

Payne said: "This is an effort to some way, somehow convince the General Assembly this is no longer just `a concern.' It's time to take decisive action.

"A lot of schools are deficit spending, some for two or three years in a row," Payne said. "If something doesn't happen, ultimately some schools would have to shut their doors.

"Eight out of 10 of our teachers said they wanted to go," Payne said. "And the reasons, of course, almost go without saying. We haven't had a (pay) raise here for any of our staff in a couple of years. Money is getting to be a huge issue, particularly state money.

"In a representative democracy, if you show enough need and make enough noise from enough people, the representatives may take you seriously," he said.

The Oak Ridge district also chose to cancel school March 6 to give more people an opportunity to attend the event, said Superintendent Roger Tatum.

Tatum said the Oak Ridge CTA surveyed faculty members and over two-thirds said they would attend.

"We felt if that many wanted to attend we should give them that opportunity," Tatum said. He added that the day off worked well with Oak Ridge's school calendar.

"The main thing that all the groups would like to achieve is a show of unity and strong support," Tatum said. "Obviously there needs to be more funding of elementary and secondary education, along with higher education."

Tatum said individual education groups have met with legislators in the past.

"But I don't recall this massive an approach, with this many educational groups working together," he said.

Jackson Schools Superintendent Wayne Maupin said: "It's more than just saying we've got to have more money. There's some accountability. We have to show why that money is needed, and I think we can do that."

The Jackson district will be sending a delegation to Jefferson City.

In addition, Maupin said, "We have secured a number of signatures on the petitions, which have been forwarded to the MSBA.

"I think the notion is to try to impress on legislators that there is a bona fide need for additional funding for elementary and secondary education."

Maupin said the district has made attempts to communicate with legislators. "There has been some letter writing, and we had our area legislator in to visit with the board.

"Our intent is not to just go up and say, `We need more money,'" Maupin said. "We need to document and spell out very clearly why the money is needed.

"That has been one of our purposes when we've written. Now we can verbalize that need."

Jo Pikert, Cape Girardeau Community Teacher Association vice president, explained that CTA officers and the group's executive committee will attend the event. This group, Pikert said, includes representatives from every building in the district.

"By sending these individuals, it will not disrupt the flow of education in Cape Girardeau," she said.

Also parents and members of the Board of Education will participate in D-Day.

Although a large number of teachers will be involved in the lobbying efforts, MSTA district President Ford said raising teachers' salaries is not the only issue.

"Nobody argues that there have not been (funding) increases," she said. "But the increases have not kept up with the additional costs districts have incurred.

"We're talking about buying paper and keeping the doors open. As we look down the road, we will see school districts with deficit spending. We're just fortunate here in Cape that we are not in that shape. But down the road, who knows?"

Ford said if D-Day doesn't result in increased funding to education, a backup plan will go into effect.

"There is a coalition of education groups, including the MSTA, ready to go with an initiative petition to get a measure on the ballot that would guarantee one-third of the general revenue would go to elementary and secondary education," Ford said.

The coalition plans to file an initiative petition in July to amend the state constitution to specify that 33 and one-third percent of the general revenue be used for elementary and secondary education.