OFFICIALS SAY SCHOOLS FACE CRISIS; SOME SEE TAX PLAN AS ONLY HOPE

(Second in a series)

Missouri's public schools are in a financial crisis, say education officials. Schools have run out of options to cut costs and some are on the brink of insolvency.

Proposition B would not solve all the problems of education in the state, but it does promise to increase state funding to public schools by $190 million.

Although less enthusiastic about the bill than their higher-education counterparts, public-school officials have joined the bandwagon for Proposition B, stating it may be the only hope for increased state funding in the foreseeable future.

On Nov. 5, voters will decide the fate of Proposition B, a $385 million tax-and-reform package for higher education, public schools and job training.

The state education department, Missouri's largest teacher organization and many individual school districts are among those endorsing the measure.

The money Proposition B would raise would return schools to the level of state funding they received two years ago, said Cape Girardeau schools Superintendent Neyland Clark. Public schools this year will absorb more than $80 million in state budget cuts.

Clark said, "My fear is that the public will say we've passed Proposition B and think that should return public schools to health.

"Proposition B is not the cure," he said. "Proposition B is like CPR: it will breathe the life back into some schools and get them stabilized. Then we will have to look at a long-term cure. Otherwise we will still be in jeopardy of losing some."

Clark said opponents of Proposition B say schools shouldn't settle for just $190 million. "They say it's not sufficient when surrounding states are putting an additional half-billion or billion (dollars) into education," he said.

"But a billion is not on the ballot, and we've got some districts that are literally not going to survive" until a billion dollar proposal might be on the ballot.

Missouri Commissioner of Education Robert E. Bartman said Proposition B is a "once-in-a-decade opportunity to increase funding for Missouri public schools."

If Proposition B fails, he said, the prospects for additional state funding for local schools are "bleak" for the next two years, and virtually all school districts will be forced to make sharp cuts in staff and programs for children.

"The financial condition of our schools is reaching crisis proportion," Bartman said.

Last week the state education department announced that nine school districts are broke and another 50 are in danger of going broke by the end of the school year. Even schools in relatively sound financial shape are feeling the effects of the financial crunch.

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education approved a $19.7 million budget for 1991-92 that includes a $1.1 million deficit. The school will use money from its savings accounts to make up the difference.

School officials have already begun to look at ways to cut the 1992-93 budget.

The Jackson Board of Education approved a $12 million budget that reflects $500,000 more in expenditures than revenues. The deficit is made up by taking money from the district's savings accounts.

Jackson schools Superintendent Wayne Maupin said the school district does not have enough money in savings to continue the trend. Maupin said the district has been treading water the past two or three years because of small or no increases in state funding.

Maupin said, "I suppose you could say we've kept our heads above water, but we've not been able to progress.

After this year's budget cuts, he said, Proposition B is essential for Jackson to continue to offer the services it does.

"I know, without Proposition B, this district has got to re-evaluate the programs and services that we can provide," said Maupin.

Of the $190 million Proposition B would raise for public schools, $150 million would be for basic school aid, known as the foundation formula. The formula must be revised before any of that money would be distributed to schools. Other funds would be set aside to fund education reforms.

An additional $60 million would be collected for public education from the time the tax would be enacted to the beginning of the first fiscal year. That $60 million would be paid to the formula over four years in equal installments of $15 million.

The money would be distributed in the 1992-93 school year, assuming that the formula is revised in the next session of the Missouri General Assembly. At the time that foundation money would be released to schools, the minimum school year would be increased from 174 days to 177 days.

Proposition B has a 10-year sunset clause on the earmarking of the tax money for education. After 10 years the money could go to the state's general revenue fund.

The bill includes a permanent "hold-harmless" clause. School districts would be guaranteed the same amount of money per eligible pupil as the year past. But actual dollar amounts schools receive could go down as student populations decrease.

Existing law provides that 80 percent of the foundation formula money for public schools goes to the teachers fund, from which salaries are paid.

Bartman said: "Districts have already cut professional staff, and school officials tell us the layoffs are going to increase. Class size is going up. A few districts are thinking about cutting days from this year's schedule. The news has rapidly gone from bad to worse all over the state."

One school district in Southeast Missouri facing a serious financial crisis is Poplar Bluff. The district has already made deep budget cuts and plans to ask voters for a local tax increase in the spring to keep the district operating.

At a recent Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce meeting, Poplar Bluff schools Superintendent James Austin drew this analogy about Proposition B:

A medical-evacuation helicopter lands to load patients for the flight to the hospital and a debate ensues on how many injured can be put aboard.

"Let's not argue about how many people we can get on it," Austin said. "Let's make sure we have enough gas to get back to the field hospital."

(Tuesday: Higher education looks to Proposition B for help with its own funding woes; Proposition B calls for reforms in higher education.)