EDUCATORS: TAX PLAN STEP IN RIGHT DIRECTION

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A plan to raise state taxes to provide additional funding for education in Missouri garnered support Saturday from area educators. But educators stopped short of endorsing every aspect of the measure.

Dr. Arthur Turner, superintendent of the Cape Girardeau Public Schools, and Wayne Maupin, superintendent of the Jackson School District, said public schools in Missouri desperately need increased funding.

Dr. Kala Stroup, president of Southeast Missouri State University, said higher education also needs additional funding.

She and other university educators in Missouri have maintained that such funding can only be accomplished through some type of state tax measure.

She said she was "pleased" that the tax package includes educational reform as well as funding for both higher education and elementary and secondary education.

"The basic premise is that we need to do something about education so let's put together something we can take to the people and let them decide."

Turner said that with tight state finances, a tax measure of some kind offers the only means of providing additional revenue for education.

"Most schools make every dollar holler three times before they ever spend it," he noted. "You don't find a lot of waste around most schools."

Turner said, "All of us would like to have more money to spend without investing any more.

"Everyone looks for the magic snake oil in education," added Turner. "But solutions that avoid additional expenditures aren't going to cut it.

"If we want better schools we're going to have to invest in them."

Senate President Pro Tem James Mathewson has called for raising an additional $494 million through tax hikes and other tax changes.

About 60 percent of the money ($292 million) would go for higher education. Thirty-five percent ($172 million) would be earmarked for elementary and secondary education, while 5 percent ($24.6 million) would go toward job training for economic development.

The tax increases would be phased in over a three-year period. The measure would:

Increase the state sales tax by one-half cent to 4.725 percent from 4.225, raising $190.1 million.

Cap the individual federal income-tax deduction at $10,000 per return, raising $167.7 million.

Increase the corporate income tax rate to 6.5 percent from 5 percent, raising $64.4 million.

Cape the corporate federal income-tax deduction at 25 percent, raising $42.8 million.

Increase the cigarette tax by 5 cents per pack to 15 cents, raising $27.3 million.

Maupin said a tax-hike-for-education measure is needed. But, he said, he would like to see more money earmarked for the public schools than what has been proposed by Mathewson.

"It seems to me that the percentages (for elementary and secondary education and higher education) need to be reversed," said Maupin.

"What we have in elementary and secondary education are major financial needs," he maintained.

A study by Associated Industries of Missouri, a statewide business organization, and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce proposes improvements for the state's elementary and secondary schools and calls for an additional $250 million in funding.

Missouri's 545 school districts annually deal with a total of about 900,000 students, Maupin said.

He maintained that some type of tax proposal is vital if school districts are going to continue to operate effectively.

"It is fairly obvious to me that with the current financing structure, the money is not there. There is just not enough money in the pot."

Reallocating existing state funds is not the answer, he said. "If you reallocate, you're robbing Peter to pay Paul. There are other (state) programs that need funding as well."