SCHOOL PLANNING PROCESS ENTERS NEW PHASE

Eventually, Cape Girardeau public schools' long-range planning process will lead to taxpayers' pockets. The questions remain - when, how much and what for.

The Board of Education is moving into the next phase of strategic planning as the Board of Education with a study session March 4 at 6 p.m. at the Vocational-Technical School. There they will decide how best to compile facts gathered by the Vision Planning Committee into the long-range plan.

"Undoubtedly we will have to have a bond issue," said board president Bob Fox. "I think the community has told us `Let's start small.' I also think the community has said we need an elementary building."

Fox said he personally would like to put an issue on the ballot quickly, but conceded that probably won't happen.

"I'd like to do it the sooner the better," Fox said. "I feel like the district and the board has the community behind us, and I feel this is the time to do something."

But before anything will go to voters, Fox said, a plan is needed. "We need to tell people is 'this is what we need immediately,' and 'this is what we need in five years and in 10 years.' It would not be static but something that can always be changed."

Fox said the plan will include direction for curriculum and finances as well as buildings.

"Everyone thinks about this as a bricks and mortar plan. It encompasses lot more than that," Fox said."

Some issues can be addressed without added expense. "We need to look at ways to let the public know what we are doing," Fox said. "For example, maybe we should have study sessions for finances to try to explain it better."

The Vision Planning Committee, appointed by the board as a fact-finding group, held a series of 18 public meetings to gather information. The original eight-member committee added 28 people to help sort though the mounds of information gathered. The expanded committee distributed a public survey to verify results from the earlier meetings.

The result was two different lists of priorities. While most of the items were included on both lists, the priorities of issues varied.

New buildings topped the list from the public meetings. An emphasis on basics in school classes topped the list from the surveys.

School board member Harry Rediger, who is coordinating the Vision Planning effort, said the next step will be developing a way to incorporate both sets of facts into the plan. He thinks April 1997 would be the earliest possible date for a ballot issue.

But Rediger said the board hasn't discussed any tax proposals. Drafting the strategic plan comes first. "We are going to start to sift though it at the work session," he said.

Rediger said people are welcome to attend the study session. "It's not an input session, but we could have dialog."

Additional information concerning budgets and legislation and other items will have to be included in the final plan.