PERRYVILLE SAYS NO TO THREE SCHOOL ISSUES

PERRYVILLE -- Voters said "no" resoundingly to Propositions Y, E, and S on Tuesday, leaving school officials surprised at the failure of the two tax levies and bond issue.

The propositions, aimed to raise Perryville School District salaries and improve and construct facilities were victims of an anti-tax backlash, said Dr. Stephen Doerr, school superintendent.

"We were very surprised," Doerr said, "but from all the people we talked to afterwards, their biggest issue seemed to be no new taxes."

Four weekends of canvassing Perryville neighborhoods, knocking on about 900 doors, had left Doerr thinking the propositions would all succeed. He said their informal results showed passage by 53 percent.

Proposition Y would have increased the operating tax levy by 55 cents to $3.25 per $100 valuation. It would have raised all school employees salaries by an average of 15 percent starting July 1.

Proposition Y was voted down with 64.2 percent against, 35.8 percent for.

The school board had already calculated and distributed information about how much more each individual would have been paid, Doerr said.

This is the most disappointing loss of the three propositions, he said.

"Everyone we talked to had said this was an issue they were willing to support," Doerr said.

School officials had counted on passage of this issue to stem rising teacher turnover. More than 80 employees left the school district last year, representing the district's largest loss of teachers ever.

On average, Perryville District teachers earn $5,000 less a year than other teachers in Missouri, the superintendent said.

Proposition E was to establish a 4-cent tax levy per $100 of assessed property value. It lost with 61.5 percent in opposition and 38.5 percent in favor. The proposition was intended to supply funds for immediate repairs.

Doerr said he already had planned on using it for roof and floor repairs in schools this summer.

Construction on a new third-to-fifth-grade center was also stopped, with voters rejecting a $5.3 million bond 65 percent to 35 percent.

Contingency plans for losing all three propositions hadn't been made, Doerr said, so today school officials will start from scratch, looking for new ways to meet its needs.

"I'm not sure what we're going to do now," he said. "We had put all our efforts into these passing."

The results mean more of the same for Gary Moll, whose two school-age children attend private schools. Nevertheless, he said his interest in the public school propositions was his main motivation to vote.

"My children have always attended private schools," said Moll, explaining his reason for voting for improvements in public schools.