School group begins review of Cape budget

The job of cutting $2.2 million from the Cape Girardeau School District budget began Monday night with a meeting of the newly formed 100-member task force.

Teachers, administrators, parents and other community members gathered at the school district's board office for an overview of the district's budget situation.

"There's a lot of anxiety over what we're going to do in the next few weeks," superintendent Mark Bowles told task force members. "But we'll enhance the quality of what we're able to do with the input of so many people."

Over the next month, the task force will scrutinize all areas of the district budget and make recommendations for cuts. Bowles will consider all of the recommendations before reporting to the school board in December.

At its first meeting Monday, the task force divided into seven study groups that will each concentrate on a specific part of the budget: noninstructional expenses, instructional expenses, subsidized programs, noninstructional support, instructional support, specialized programs and classroom teachers.

Bowles said the idea behind the task force is to focus on students.

"But it's not a guarantee that it's not going to hit kids in the classroom," he said.

Members of the groups all have their own reasons for volunteering to be part of such an ominous task.

Teachers such as Josh LaMar from Central High School said they signed up with the hope of keeping their jobs. Parents came to ensure their children will still receive a quality education despite the multimillion-dollar cuts.

Nonparents such as Scott Blank said they wanted to show support for the district and contribute their own experiences to the process.

"The school is a vital part of the community," Blank said. "Anytime you make cuts, you worry about the ramifications, but I think the community will pull together on this."

During the financial overview, task force members learned that the district is expecting a $770,000 loss in state funding, $263,000 less than projected for local and county taxes this year and a $1.3 million increase in personnel costs during the 2003-04 school year.

"We have a daunting task before us," said assistant superintendent Dr. Betty Chong. "Some of us are very nervous about that."

The task force teams will meet again Nov. 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 13 for a series of work sessions.

At its Dec. 15 meeting, school board members will be presented with the task force recommendations. They are scheduled to vote on the recommendations in January.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128