SCHOOL DISTRICT ELECTIONS TODAY

JACKSON - Four school districts in Cape Girardeau County are holding elections today -- one seeking a tax levy increase to construct a new building, and three asking taxpayers to waive the rollback of property taxes granted under Proposition C.

Voters in the Cape Girardeau school district will decide whether to approve a 51 cent property tax levy increase to fund construction of a new middle school for grades 6-8. Money would also be generated to build an addition to the Jefferson Elementary School.

Voters in the Jackson, Delta and Oak Ridge school districts, by waiving the rollback, will be able to take advantage of additional state funding that becomes available under Senate Bill 380, referred to as the Outstanding Schools Act. The measure was approved by legislators in May and more than 40 Southeast Missouri districts have similar proposals on the ballot today.

Under the new law, schools are required to have a $2.75 minimum operating levy. By approving the rolback waiver, school districts will get considerably more money from the state. School districts like Cape Girardeau, which is already above the $2.75 levy, will not be required to approve the waiver.

Polls will remain open until 7 p.m. today. Election results will be tabulated by the county clerk's office at the county's administration building in Jackson.

The proposed building projects in the Cape district would cost $18.5 million. The 51-cent levy would generate $1.3 million a year that would be used to pay off construction costs, and also bring an additional $900,000 in state money to the district as a result of the Outstanding Schools Act.

Rollback waivers are also being considered by the Scott City, Oran, Kelly, Chaffee, Sikeston, Scott County Central, and Kelso C-7 districts in Scott County; the issue is being considered by the Woodland, Meadow Heights and Zalma districts in Bollinger County.