State's financial situation looms over Cape Girardeau School Board's budget retreat

When the Cape Girardeau School Board meets Thursday at its budget planning retreat, members will face only one certainty: The state budget looks bleak.

"State revenues are going to be tight, and there's a lot of speculation about what is going to happen," said Jim Welker, superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District. "We may not know what is going to come down for a while."

For now, at least, it looks like there won't be any job cuts in the district next school year, according to Cape Girardeau School Board president Paul Nenninger.

State budget cuts forced the district to eliminate 30 stipends and 26 positions to make up about $1.01 million this school year. The $41 million balanced budget also froze wages in the current school year. But that was just the beginning. The district had to deal with a 50 percent reduction of state transportation funds to $186,304, and a 4 percent reduction in the phased-in state formula funding to $269,008. To balance the budget, the board cut 10 percent in purchased services, materials and supply budgets to about $520,000.

But what lies ahead could be even worse as the legislature faces a half-billion-dollar shortfall, and the governor looks to education, one of the state's biggest line items, to balance the budget.

"It's kind of ugly," Nenninger said. "The warnings we were given at the beginning of the budget crisis is recovery will be real slow, certainly not as fast as the fall."

State revenue is trending up, ever so slightly. But there's a lot of ground to make up.

Lawmakers are just getting a sense of the budget trouble they face in this session. All signs point to deep cuts.

The Missouri Senate's Rebooting Government education work group met recently to come up with some ideas to save the state money. Here's what's on the table so far:

* Reducing summer school reimbursement.

* Eliminating the requirement that state aid for school districts with an enrollment of 350 students or fewer not be any less than the amount they received in the 2005-2006 school year.

* Eliminating the provision that allows school districts with declining enrollments to calculate their state aid based on their average attendance during the past three years.

* Consolidation of school districts, even though research and experience in other states has shown minimal cost savings from consolidation.

* Changing contribution rates for the Public School Retirement System.

* Changing or eliminating teacher tenure.

"We're very concerned about what's going to happen next year," Welker said. "There is all kind of speculation on just how short the state is in terms of revenue. And as we balance the budget, and we will balance the budget, we hope that there is adequate funding for K-12 education."

Nenninger said word is that the next few years could see a precipitous reduction in state aid to Missouri's public school districts, perhaps declining to 86 percent of full funding by 2013.

"That's the worst case," he said.

The funding rate declined to 96 percent in the current school year.

The district will pick up an additional $250,000 over the next year, thanks to a lower health insurance contract negotiated and approved in December. And federal jobs funding could bring an infusion of cash into Missouri's public schools.

Those revenue sources should stave off job cuts in 2011-2012, Nenninger said. But raises at this point, Nenninger said, look doubtful.

"From what I understand of the budget now, unless we come up with sustainable funds, I don't see any way to give raises right now," he said. "By holding the cap on raises and other expenses and our reduction in health benefits savings, I think it leaves us in a pretty good position to try to retain all the staff we have. But we're not going to give any raises."

mkittle@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

301 N. Clark Ave., Cape Girardeau MO