SCHOOL PROPOSALS: FEW TURN OUT FOR FINAL MEETING

Questions about reassessment and changes in elementary boundaries dominated discussion Monday at the last of three scheduled public meetings concerning Cape Girardeau's upcoming school ballot issues.

Six people attended the meeting held at the Junior High School. Board president Bob Fox said he hopes the low turnout indicates people understand and support the proposals.

"I don't hear a lot of negativity out there," Fox said.

On April 1 voters will be asked to support two funding proposals that would set in motion a master plan for changes in the Cape Girardeau School District. On the ballot is sale of $14 million in bonds and waiver of the Proposition C rollback. The two items would mean a 69-cent increase in the school tax levy.

Money would be used to build an elementary school and vocational-technical school and to renovate other schools. At the end of the first phase of the plan, May Greene and Washington elementary schools would close.

The second phase includes construction of a high school on the same property as the vocational-technical school. Grade configurations would change so that elementary schools house grades kindergarten through fourth, the junior high becomes a fifth-sixth-grade center, the old high school becomes a seventh-eighth-grade center, and the new high school houses grades nine through 12. A second $14 million bond issue would be needed to fund the second phase but could be repaid without an additional tax levy increase.

The school board has rescheduled a meeting for noon Thursday to announce the location for the proposed vocational-technical school and future high school. A meeting Monday at noon was postponed because of a last-minute legal snag, said Fox. He is confident an agreement will be worked out by Thursday.

At Monday night's meeting questions were posed about the impact of reassessment on the ballot issues.

Superintendent Dan Tallent explained that because of reassessment the school district must roll back its tax levy an estimated 35 cents. While voters will consider a 69-cent tax increase, the levy will be rolled back 35 cents. The net tax levy increase would be 45 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

Parents also asked if the proposed elementary boundary changes are likely to be revamped in coming years.

Tallent said they would because changes in attendance areas are likely.

"This is probably something we need to do every two years or so," he said. "We went too long without making changes in this school district. This needs to be something we look at all the time."

Revisions to elementary attendance boundaries are needed as new neighborhoods are constructed and as the city's population shifts, the superintendent said.