SCOTT CITY SCHOOL CUTS FACE BOARD

SCOTT CITY -- Like most Missouri school districts, Scott City is facing a budget crisis, and the school board is being forced to make cutbacks to keep the district financially sound.

Five staff positions, including one part-time and two full-time teachers and one administrator, are likely to be cut, and purchases of equipment, supplies and teaching aids will drop.

In addition, district salaries will most certainly be frozen, at least for a year. And, if finances don't improve, sports programs are in danger of being scrapped.

Bob Brison, superintendent, blames the crunch on inadequate state funding. But he says the slow-down of the economy and the fact that the district has lost about 500 students in the past eight years has contributed to budget woes.

"It's real tense, and it certainly causes anxious moments," said Brison. He said staff cuts and salary freezes are difficult but necessary.

"This is serious business. We want to keep the district financially sound and without problems," he said.

The school board will meet Thursday, and will likely adopt a tentative budget of $3.2 million, the same as last year's, Brison said.

But administrators expect the amount of state funding the school will receive this year to be even less than it received last year, possibly by as much as $100,000. Brison said specific information about the shortfall in state education funding has not yet been made available to districts.

"The bottom line is state funding," Brison said. "The biggest problem is that the governor is really not providing leadership as far as school funding. He is focusing instead on reforms, and not on basic educational needs."

Brison said the district may receive only 92 percent of the state funding it received last year.

He said in the coming weeks the school board will have to devise a budget that cuts spending even further in order to avoid a deficit.

Sports programs are one area the board is looking into cutting, he said.

"To date we haven't made any reductions in that area but some consideration is being done to that effect," he said.

"Any cuts we would make or would propose would be those that involved the fewest students or have a minimal impact on students."

But class trips and out-of-district trips for administrators may also become a thing of the past, he said.

The district has approximately 850 students and next year will employ 60 teachers, three fewer than last year. Brison said that eight years ago about 1,350 students attended district schools.

Some state funding is based on the number of students the district has, he said, so as numbers drop, so does funding.

"And we're still trying to maintain programs and services at the same level as we did then," he said.

Brison said Scott City is typical of other districts in the state in regard to money problems.

He said he sees no relief on the local level through increasing the school tax levy because it's unlikely such a measure would gain voter approval.

Brison, who has been superintendent for five years, is optimistic that the district's financial situation will improve in one to two years.

"We'll get through it. We've got a real strong staff and they recognize our needs," he said. "We'll have to be a little more resourceful. Some of the nice things we've been accustomed to having, we'll not have."