SCHOOL OFFICIALS HOPE FOR MORE STATE MONEY

Cape Girardeau School District officials hope the state will approve nearly $2 million to help cover cost overruns on the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational Career Center.

The school district this year is to receive a $650,000 check as the final installment of the state's $3.1 million pledge to the project, made in 1996.

Superintendent Dr. Dan Steska said he hopes Gov. Mel Carnahan and the Legislature will approve a $1.8 million request this fiscal year in addition to the $650,000. Steska said Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education officials have indicated there is a good chance the state could provide additional funding.

"We're hoping that will be approved by this legislature as a supplement to the original allocation," Steska said. "They have spoken very positively about the potential for us to get these funds."

The center, to be built west of Kingshighway and Southern Expressway, is expected to cost between $10 million and $11 million. Original estimates put the cost at $6.3 million.

The vocational center will house classes currently taught in the Area Vo-Tech School at 301 N. Clark St. The old building will be used as office and storage space.

B.J. Stockton, director of administration and accountability with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said he has spoken with Cape Girardeau school officials regarding the project. The additional funding has been placed on a list of recommendations that will be forwarded to the governor in early September, he said.

"I have talked to (vocational school director) Harold Tilley about the cost overruns and the reasons why, and we have plugged into the governor's request for fiscal year 2000, $1.8 million as a supplement to their fiscal year 2000 budget request," said Stockton. "The governor will then decide to recommend or not recommend that particular line item."

Stockton said school districts throughout the state are beginning to request funding for construction or remodeling projects as the state's vocational schools begin to deteriorate. Most of the schools were built in the 1960s when the state's vocational program was developed, he said.

"It's just the sheer fact that they have become old, dilapidated and deteriorated," said Stockton. "Cape Girardeau's was one of the older ones."

Stockton said state funding typically has been provided to supplement unanticipated costs if the school district is able to provide local matching funding.

Cape Girardeau is using money from a $14.1 million bond issue voters approved in 1997 as matching funds for its request, he said.

"None were really turned down," said Stockton. "Some were withdrawn because school districts were not able to provide the matching funds. Cape is using its bond issue, a perfectly legitimate match."

It is unclear when a decision will be made on the request for more state money. The process could take as much as a year.