SCHOOL'S MASTER PLAN INSPIRES IMPROVEMENT

Superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent foresees a new era of modernized facilities and fiscal fitness for Cape Girardeau public schools in the next 20 years.

All-around improvements are being made to facilities, programming and staff development, he said. Teachers are working to strengthen curriculum and build up weak test scores and dropout rates that are higher than average.

In addition, the financial roller coaster the district has been on in past years will be brought to a permanent halt as emphasis is placed on creating balanced budgets and using natural-growth income, he said.

"All of this has been addressed in our master plan," said Tallent. "We're really looking at a seven-year plan for phases one and two of our building projects. As far as our fiscal status, we need to get to ground zero pretty soon, and once we're there, we have to take our natural growth and live within that."

Steps are necessarily being taken now to improve the district's financial status, Tallent said. The district needs to have at least 10 percent of its budget held back in reserves in case of emergencies, which amounts to about $1 million, he said. After July 1, reserves will be down to about $400,000.

He will present "parameters" to board members in two weeks regarding ways to reduce operational spending by some $500,000 in the next budget. This amount, coupled with a projected $500,000 in new income, should help the district break even. After that, officials will have to work to plump up their resources, he said.

"We'll have to try to develop a financial plan to get us there," he said. "We're going to do that a number of ways. What we're trying to propose legislatively is if everyone is saying there ought to be additional money for kids that come from an at-risk background, those conditions also exist for kids in hold-harmless districts. We want to make the same commitment to those kids."

If the legislation were approved, the additional income could amount to as much as $800,000 a year, Tallent said. Coupled with the approximately $1 million in Proposition C funding that will go into operational funding after capital projects are completed, as well as the anticipated new growth in the district, it is easy to see why the district's fiscal status should improve, he said.

Future school board members and administrators will have to work diligently to keep up with projected growth in the district in coming years, said Tallent. Enrollment has leveled off in recent years, he said, but industrial expansion of businesses like BioKyowa and Proctor and Gamble, coupled with housing developments such as those initiated by Holigan Homes, will hopefully cause increased enrollments.

The beginning of higher enrollments should correspond with the completion of phase-one building projects in the district about fall 1999, he said. Phase one began with the passage of a $14 million bond issue last April to finance construction of elementary and vocational schools, renovations to Alma Schrader, Franklin and Clippard schools, and a major addition to Jefferson Elementary School.

In spring 2000 voters will be asked to finance another $14 bond issue that would enable the district to build a new high school campus and renovate the old junior high and high school sites. The second bond issue won't mean an increase in taxes, Tallent said; rather, it will basically mean a continuation of current taxes.

He said: "We just want to continue the projects we began this year so that we can build the new high school to house ninth- to 12th-graders. This will also allow us to renovate the old secondary schools so the high school can become a seventh- and-eighth-grade center and the old junior high will become a fifth- and sixth-grade center."

The completion of phase two will relieve overcrowding in all elementary school buildings, which will then be able to absorb growth in enrollment, he said. Once that happens a new elementary school might be needed if enrollment outpaces current projections, he said.

"The only real area we have to expand is south of Route K towards the Diversion Channel," said Tallent. "I think we'll see real growth out in that area in the next two decades. How the housing patterns all occur will determine where we might have to build next."

Overall, Tallent said the district's future looks bright. With continued community support and dedicated leadership from school board and administrative officials, he said, Cape Girardeau public schools will be bigger, newer and better in the 21st century.