DESEG SAVINGS CONCERN LAWMAKERS; LEGISLATORS DISCUSS DISTRIBUTION, OTHER ISSUES WITH SUPERINTENDENTS

SIKESTON -- Dividing up desegregation savings funds topped educational concerns of area state lawmakers during a meeting Wednesday with the Southeast Missouri Superintendents Association.

Six legislators said any education-related bills proposed in the next session should benefit the districts represented by the association. Other educational topics they expect to work with include teacher certification and charter and alternative programs.

The panel of lawmakers attended the SMSA's monthly meeting. More than 30 school administrators participated in the discussion, which was held so lawmakers could trade information and hear concerns important to Southeast Missouri school districts.

"We need your input because you all are the experts," said Rep. Denny Merideth, I-Caruthersville. "Education is a community process. If we isolate that process into little bitty chunks, you're going to get much more out of it."

Rep. Joe Heckemeyer D-Sikeston, who was among lawmakers attending, is a member of the Joint Interim Committee on Desegregation and School Finance Issues, a legislative committee currently holding public hearings throughout the state.

The committee was formed to assess public opinion about how the state should best spend the more than $160 million in expected savings resulting from the end of court-ordered desegregation in urban schools. The hearings will end in November, and the committee will then develop legislation to be proposed in January.

Local administrators are pushing for increased funding to categorical budget items, including transportation and special- and gifted-education programming. Heckemeyer said the committee has already begun discussing those issues, which would mean more money for most area districts, large and small.

However, he said, urban legislators are emphasizing other categories, including at-risk populations and cost-of-education indices. People representing urban interests argue that the cost of education is higher in urban areas, he said. They want to see bolstered spending in these categories because it would mean increased funding to urban districts, he said.

"We're getting into the categoricals, but what's happening is that we're probably going to have to redefine what the categoricals are," he said. "The cities are arguing they pay more taxes, but there are only three rural legislators on the committee, and we're telling them that the money that could have been available to our rural schools went to theirs for desegregation instead. That's the strongest argument I've heard to date in our favor."

Interim superintendent of Kelly schools Jim Evans said the cost of education only appears larger in urban districts because desegregation funding allowed them to spend more in their salary schedules. Before court-ordered desegregation, the salaries were much closer in urban and rural districts, he said.

"It's a case of the rich getting richer," Evans said. "The salaries have widened since desegregation. Now they're saying let's go ahead and (increase cost of education funding) to further ourselves. I just don't think that's fair."

Administrators said they also hope to see lawmakers support local control of teacher certification requirements. Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said this stance, which has also been taken by the Missouri State Teachers Association, would become more important as national agencies worked to get more control over testing and certification standards.

"Obviously, this is an issue that is going to become more important as time goes on," Kinder said. "This is something we'll definitely need to stay on top of because local control is a bipartisan concern."