EDUCATION: DISTRICT WANTS HELP WITH FINANCIAL WOES

Faced with mounting financial concerns, Cape Girardeau School District administrators are turning to local residents for the answer.

Schools Superintendent Dan Steska said a new committee will examine the district's financial projections for the next five years and determine how to address low fund balances, stagnant income projections and growing educational expenses -- with one possible answer being an increased tax levy.

The district's most recent concern is the delay of a $1 million state allocation to help pay for the new Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center. The funding has been postponed at least until January, when an appeal on a lawsuit over taxpayer refunds may be settled.

More than 35 business owners, university officials and others in the community have been invited to a financial planning meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Career and Technology Center, 301 N. Clark.

Schools Superintendent Dr. Dan Steska said invitations were sent to original members of the finance committee that helped create the district's long-range master plan four years ago. Community members and educators who helped develop the district's Comprehensive School Improvement Plan -- a five-year plan written last summer on student performance, facility and library needs -- were invited, too.

The committee possibly will lay the groundwork for a proposal to increase the district's operating tax levy, a measure school officials have said they would consider pursuing after construction projects funded with a $14.1 million bond levy approved by voters in 1997 were completed.

Construction of a new gymnasium at Franklin Elementary School will be completed in early December to round out the first phase of projects, which also included construction of Blanchard Elementary School and improvements to Alma Schrader, Clippard and Jefferson elementary schools and Central Junior High School.

"Yes, it is laying the groundwork for that if the community, after the review, feels that that is the way to go," said Steska. "Personally, I don't see any alternative, based on the quality of the educational program that the community is used to and, I think, wants to see continue."

The meeting is only the first in a series of public meetings the district will conduct in coming months. Information presented to the committee also will be reviewed by civic and business organizations in an attempt to "promote awareness and to solicit advice as to how to deal with the problem," Steska said. "The schools belong to the community, so we want their input every step of the way."

Residents interested in joining the finance committee should contact the Board of Education office at 335-1867.