SCHOOL FINANCE SEMINAR TUESDAY

Cape Girardeau educators will offer a lesson in school finance to the public during a seminar Tuesday.

"A Crash Course on School Finance" will be presented at 6 p.m. in the Central Junior High School cafeteria. The Cape Girardeau School District Community Teachers Association is sponsoring the event, which is free and open to anyone.

Dr. John Jones, a salary and finance coordinator for the Missouri State Teachers Association, will lead the seminar. Jones is a developer of Senate Bill 380, the massive legislation passed in 1993 that created a new funding formula for Missouri public schools.

He also leads workshops to explain the possible impact of school finance legislation to state legislators.

"We really feel there are some things about school finance people in general don't understand," said Pat Bratton, CTA vice president. Jones will give his perception of what is going on and how school finance works, Bratton said.

Bratton said the seminar will help anyone confused by tax levies, budgets and funding sources, and other school finance issues. School finance is a complex subject that is constantly being changed, but the goal of the seminar is to "keep the information as simple as possible," she said.

Sheryl Smith-Woeltje, MSTA southeast district field representative, said the seminar should be especially helpful for Cape Girardeau school patrons.

Jones will give specific information regarding the financial outlook of Cape Girardeau schools for the 1999-2000 school year and answer other questions pre-submitted by the CTA, she said.

"He will address hold-harmless, because that's the thing that's caused Cape to experience some paralysis," said Smith-Woeltje. MSTA "recognizes that it's our communities we serve, and we want to help our taxpayers to understand what's happening."

Cape Girardeau school patrons need a better understanding of the district's financial structure because it directly affects the education of children, said Smith-Woeltje.

When a district sees a high number of retirees and resignations -- as was the case in Cape Girardeau last spring after school board members froze spending and approved an early retirement incentive to cut deficit spending -- students are negatively impacted, she said.