SCHOOL PLAN PRESENTED; COMMITTEE MAKES RECOMMENDATION ON FINANCES

There is no magic dollar amount that the Cape Girardeau School District can afford or people will approve in a bond issue, but an 11-member committee has created a financial plan that could give the district the "biggest bang for its buck."

The committee met with Cape Girardeau Board of Education members Tuesday night for a study session on the district's finances.

The finance report is the last part of a three-pronged effort to create a long-range plan for the school district. The plan includes an emphasis on educational programs, buildings and finances.

The proposal is just a suggestion: The board is expected to adopt its long-range plan in November.

The committees were part of a long-range planning process that began last fall with a series of Vision Planning meetings to gather community input.

"There is no magic number for what voters will accept and for what they won't," said Jim Limbaugh, a committee member.

The benefit of this plan is that voters can come back in five or six years and get even more without any tax increase, he said. "It's the biggest bang for the buck."

The committee recommended that the school board approve a $14 million bond issue to fund a two-phase construction project. The bond issue would be included in the district's long-range plan and would likely reach voters in the April 1997 election. The term of a bond issue will determine how quickly the new programs and building projects are started.

It only took a half hour for the committee to make its recommendation to the school board, although the group has been meeting weekly for the last month.

The task, although complicated, was probably easier because the finance committee worked from recommendations made by two other committees, said Dr. Bob Fox, school board president.

The educational programs committee suggested revising technology and vocational-technical curriculum and adding more computers to the classroom.

The buildings committee recommended closing three schools, building a new elementary and high school and moving the seventh and eighth grades into a traditional junior-high setting.

"They had to work with what each one cost and group it into phases," Fox said.

The first phase of the project would cost about $15.6 million. Most of the funding would come from the $14 million bond issue proposal, with additional money from a 39-cent Proposition C rollback.

It includes major renovations to all elementary schools, the junior-high and high-school buildings, building a new elementary school, an addition at Jefferson School and a new vo-tech center, and buying furniture and equipment for the new buildings.

The second phase would include construction of a new high-school complex and complete renovations to the present junior-high and high-school buildings. Both projects in this phase could be done by continuing the debt levy without a tax increase.

The plan was created in two phases for several reasons. "It gives you as much as possible in the first two years and maximizes the amount of bonds sold," said Ken Dobbins, who served as a committee spokesman.

"We believe you can do it in phases with an additional levy in future years," Dobbins said. "It's the real key to this proposal."

The board must now work to make sure that the information reaches the public and that people know how much the issue will cost, said Don Sherwood, a committee member. "The person who was against it from day one can change his or her mind, and everybody will be singing the same verse and the community will support us," he said.

The board will present the plan to the original Vision Planning Committee Oct. 17. It will then be presented formally at the board meeting Oct. 21.

Timeline for Cape Girardeau School District

Phase I

Elementary schools major renovations

$3.1 million

1997

New elementary and Jefferson addition

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$3.9 million

mid 1997-mid 1998

New elementary furniture and equipment

$500,000