SCHOOL ISSUES ON BALLOT; STATE PROPOSES AMENDMENTS

Three proposals included on the April 7 ballot could make increasing tax rates and borrowing money easier for Missouri school districts. But few area districts would be immediately affected by the proposals if passed.

Missouri legislators decided last spring to allow voters to consider three state constitutional amendments regarding school finance issues, and Gov. Mel Carnahan recently chose upcoming elections as the date to put them before voters. He chose the April ballot to correspond with school board elections taking place for nearly every district in the state, said spokesperson Chris Sifford.

"I think that there'll be a considerable effort among the education community to pass these proposals," Sifford said. "The governor might assist in campaigning for these issues but that decision hasn't been made yet."

One of the proposals voters will consider would increase the operating tax levy amount that could be set by a simple majority vote. Currently, the state constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote to set operating levies of more than $3.75 per $100 assessed valuation.

If passed, the new proposal would increase the limit voters can approve operating tax increases by a simple majority to $6 per $100 assessed valuation.

The proposal would also allow school boards to set a tax rate of $2.75 without a vote. The tax ceiling without a vote is currently $1.25, although the state school funding formula requires districts to have a $2.75 operating tax rate in order to receive full state aid.

Vic Slaughter of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said that proposal would give districts a better chance at increasing their local funding and maintaining the amount of state funding they receive. Some rural communities in northern Missouri already pay higher local tax rates in order to keep their schools, he said, but changes in the funding formula will require many districts to increase their local funding in order to continue receiving current levels of state aid.

For hold-harmless districts like Cape Girardeau, the amendment would provide them a better chance of increasing incoming funds although their state aid rarely changes, he said.

"I think that the primary reason (this proposal is important) is a vote should count as a vote and right now it doesn't," he said. "The simple majority lets each vote hold its own weight. Right now, if I want a $4 tax rate I have to get a buddy to vote with me to overcome one negative vote."

The second amendment proposal to be considered would increase the percentage of money a district could borrow based upon its assessed valuation. Currently, a district can borrow up to 10 percent of its assessed valuation to provide for capital expenditures; the new proposal would increase that limit to 15 percent.

Slaughter said only a handful of fast-growing school districts -- 52 of 525 -- borrowed 9 to 10 percent of their assessed valuation last year. This proposal would allow those communities to approve more general obligation bond sales or lease purchase debt to finance building projects within their district, but few other districts would be affected because they aren't near their bonded debt limit, he said.

A third proposal would allow the Kansas City School District to retain its current property tax rate of $4.96, which was ordered by a federal court judge as part of a desegregation case. This proposal won't affect any community other than Kansas City, said Slaughter; that is, of course, unless it doesn't pass.

"The question becomes, What happens if they're not allowed to keep the rate currently applied to local property?" he said. "If it fails, their tax rate will drop drastically, which means they'll lose an enormous amount of state aid. "They're going to have to have money to operate, but they'll be hard pressed if it falls back to $2.75 (per $100 assessed valuation).

"Somehow, somebody's going to have to educate those kids. That may mean the state takes over and does it or the people in that community will do it, but the kids of Kansas City will have to be educated whether that proposal passes or not."

District operating levies

Following are operating levies of area school districts. The average operating levy in Missouri is $3.51 per $100 assessed valuation.

Bollinger County

Leopold, $3.05

Meadow Heights, $2.75

Woodland, $2.75

Zalma, $2.87

Cape Girardeau County:

Cape Girardeau, $3.28

Delta, $3.30

Jackson, $3.23

Nell Holcomb, $3.60

Oak Ridge, $3.53

Perry County:

Altenburg, $3.28

Perryville, $3.06

Scott County:

Chaffee, $2.82

Kelly, $2.75

Kelso C-7, $2.80

Oran, $2.90

Scott City, $2.94

Sikeston, $2.75