SCHOOLS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT SENATE BILL 676

Senate Bill 676 was designed to "clean up" a few problems with Senate Bill 380, the law that made sweeping changes in education funding for Missouri's public schools.

But to superintendents like Sikeston's Robert Buchanan, the legislation is a nightmare.

"Senate Bill 676 is an atrocious piece of legislation," Buchanan said Tuesday. "It handicaps the ability of a local school board to make ordinary repairs and spend money that they deem necessary in the local district.

"Whether it is teachers' salaries or money for computers, their hands are tied by this piece of legislation," said Buchanan.

The Sikeston public schools superintendent said the legislation is "such a mess" that lawmakers will probably be forced to adopt a measure to correct problems with it next year.

Buchanan voiced his views after he and about 70 other Southeast Missouri school officials sat through a workshop in Cape Girardeau Tuesday morning where the complex measure was explained by two staff members of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

"This bill, as with any other, is not black and white," confessed Gerri Ogle, the department's assistant director of school finance.

But to Buchanan, the legislation is just one big black mark for schools.

"Prior to Senate Bill 380, you had the ability at the local level to build classrooms, make repairs, purchase equipment as the local board deemed necessary from the fund balance and local revenue," he explained. "Senate Bill 380 (passed last year) tied local revenue to state revenue, and limited how that money could be spent," he said.

"The whole idea of 676 was to close one loophole, to keep schools from entering into lease purchases," said Buchanan. "The state is limiting how much you can spend on lease purchase."

The idea is to prevent school districts from obtaining increased state foundation money as a result of entering into new lease purchases.

Larry Dew, business manager for the Cape Girardeau public schools, said Senate Bill 380 established a "tax-driven" funding formula.

But legislation approved by lawmakers this year has changed that, he said. "Basically, the legislature is pulling in on its commitment to be a tax-driven formula."

Buchanan said, "They can't afford the formula that they wrote."

To comply, the Sikeston School District, with its $18 million budget, can only spend a maximum of $806,716 for capital expenses, and another $268,877 on classroom instructional equipment in a single fiscal year, he said.

"The key question is, if you have a roof that goes bad, would you be able to repair it?"

Buchanan said school districts have resorted to lease-purchase arrangements in the past because it is easier to get the local voters to approve a measure requiring a simple majority than the traditional bond issue, which requires a two-thirds or four-sevenths majority for passage.

The legislation will make it more difficult for many school districts to finance capital improvement projects, he said.

He said schools also are being asked to comply with revenue ratios for teachers' salaries under Senate Bill 676 and differing expenditure ratios under Senate Bill 380.

"It may be impossible to be in compliance with both of them," said Buchanan. Districts that aren't in compliance face the loss of some state aid, he said.