NO DEBT NOT ALL GOOD FOR SCHOOLS; RETIRING 1976 BONDS WAS COSTLY TO DISTRICT

The last year Cape Girardeau voters approved a school bond issue was 1976, when $2.5 million was spent to build a new gymnasium and renovate the music department at Cape Central High School.

The district, which is putting a new $25 million bond issue before voters in the April 6 election, currently has no debt. But administrators say retiring that $2.5 million bond issue in 1989 has cost the Cape Girardeau Public Schools a considerable amount of money.

Because the formula used to compute each school's share of utility taxes allocates more to those servicing debt, the Cape Girardeau schools will reap a bonus of $204,660 annually if the bond issue passes.

That's money that won't be distributed to the other schools in the county notably Jackson, which will receive about $106,000 less if the Cape Girardeau bonds are approved.

Cape Girardeau Superintendent Neyland Clark points out that most of the utility taxes are paid by Union Electric, but that Jackson is serviced by a rural electrical co-op.

"They're retiring their debt on their buildings with Cape Girardeau money," Clark said.

Beyond turning the election into a border war, the larger issue is how Cape Girardeau's schools and tax rate stack up against the rest of the state.

In 1991, state schools spent an average of 8 percent of their budgets to acquire facilities. That number was the same for the highest-rated AAA schools, and 10 percent for schools with an equalized assessed valuation of $45,000 or greater.

Equalized assessed valuation is derived by dividing the assessed valuation by the number of students in a district.

The Cape Girardeau district falls into the latter two categories, but in 1991 spent just 1 percent of its budget on facilities acquisition.

The average state expenditure for debt service was 4 percent across the board. The Cape Girardeau school district spent nothing. Business Manager Larry Dew says the district has been falling behind.

"We're not making any house payments. You should really be going out in the future and doing something."

Cape Girardeau's current tax rate of $2.87 per $100 assessed valuation is below the state average of $3.47. The proposed Cape Girardeau rate would be $3.86.

The Cape Girardeau district, with 4,400 students, has an assessed valuation of $2.05 million. Comparable in size, the Liberty school district near Kansas City has 4,687 students, $192 million in assessed valuation and a tax rate of $4.14.

St. Louis County's Normandy district is assessed at $208 million, has 5,700 students and a tax rate of $4.40.

The proposed Cape Girardeau rate would be is higher than the rates in the Fox schools $2.98, with $287 million assessed valuation and 9,500 students and the Joplin ($2.47) and St. Joseph ($2.85) schools, both of which have nearly double the assessed valuation and students as the Cape Schools.

Dew says that comparing the Cape Girardeau district to others nearby is unfair because most are not as well off. Both Sikeston and Poplar Bluff have equalized assessed valuations of about $28,000.

Poplar Bluff schools have a minimum guarantee of $5.9 million from the state compared to Cape's $2.8 million.

Poplar Bluff has 5,034 students but a tax rate of $2.03 based on an assessed valuation of $141 million. Last year, Poplar Bluff voters approved a 66-cent increase in the district's levy for operational costs, the first raise since 1968.

Poplar Bluff schools have undergone some drastic budget reductions recently. John Holland, business manager for the district, says the district also is facing the problem of aging buildings exacerbated by strong growth.

A recommendation is expected by April of whether to put a new bond issue before the voters that would enable the district to close two old buildings and build a new one.

Some Cape Girardeau voters look longingly at the tax rate that operates seven elementary schools, one junior high and one high school in Poplar Bluff, but Holland says, "Cape's always been well ahead of us," suggesting that the presence of Southeast Missouri State University might be a contributing factor to the community's heightened attention to education.

"... We're doing it but we think we could be a whole lot better if we had new facilities," he said. "... It's a matter of how much is making do and how much is quality."

Sikeston has a tax rate of $2.34 based on a $128 million assessed valuation. The system has 4,418 students.

Jackson's 3,500 students are supported at a rate of $2.85 on an assessed valuation of $121 million.

The last time Cape Girardeau Public Schools increased its school levy was 1988, a boost of 48 cents that went to teachers' salaries and the schools' incidental fund.