GROUP OFFERS GRANTS FOR SCHOOL SUPPLIES

When a districtwide budget freeze dried up funding for nonessential purchases, the Community Teachers Association provided grants to help educators buy some classroom supplies.

The group gave $100 grants to 20 members to buy books, scientific calculators, computer printers and other materials for use by students.

In many cases, the items would normally be purchased using district funds, said CTA president Pat Renard.

However, the district is in a financial crunch and administrators are only approving purchases essential to classroom instruction.

This is the second time in five years the CTA has made the grants available to Cape Girardeau teachers.

Louis J. Schultz School language arts teachers Bonnie Matzat and Pat Heckert were among the grant recipients.

Heckert will use her grant to replace an outdated dot-matrix computer printer in her classroom. The equipment was scheduled for replacement prior to the budget freeze and Heckert said she needs it so students who don't have access to computers in their homes are able to type compositions and other assignments.

"We do lots of writing throughout the day, and I'm not always able to schedule time in the computer lab," she said. "The students who don't have a computer will enjoy using the computer and printer in the room."

Will provide incentives

Matzat will use the additional funding to buy paperback books that will be used as incentives for students in the school's annual reading fair. "One hundred dollars doesn't buy a lot of books," but it will help provide incentives to encourage students to read, which is always a plus, she said.

"Without this money and the YELL grant we probably would not be able to do this reading fair," Matzat said. "My basic needs as a teacher are being met, but there are things that are supplemental that are always nice to have."

Renard said teachers are hopeful voters will approve a tax increase measure in August that would bolster sagging balances and provide more money for operating costs, including budgets for supplies and salary increases.

In the meantime, the public should know everyone is pitching in to make the best of a bad situation, Renard said.

"I think that the building principals and that the administrators are doing a good job with buying the things that are necessary and saying no to things that are unnecessary," she said. "No one school is getting more than another, and students aren't going without things they have to have."