SUPERINTENDENTS BACK AMENDMENTS

Missouri voters on Tuesday will decide the fate of two proposed constitutional amendments that two area school superintendents said could have an impact on local school districts.

One amendment, Amendment 3, deals with the Kansas City School District. The other, Amendment 4, affects all school districts. Both require a simple majority for passage.

Amendment 3 would give the Kansas City school board the authority to maintain a property tax levy of up to $4.95 per $100 assessed valuation once the federal court order on desegregation is lifted.

Without the measure, the levy would revert to $2.75 when the court order is lifted.

The school district currently doesn't have the authority to establish a levy at $4.95 without approval of the district's voters.

Under the measure, any levy amount above $4.95 would need voter approval.

The Kansas City School District is the only school district in the state with a levy that has been established by court order.

Constitutional amendments can be drawn to apply to a single area or entity, said Jim Grebing, communications director for the Missouri secretary of state's office.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in May 1994 that a law that set up the St. Louis Boundary Commission was unconstitutional because the state constitution required that any law applicable to one county had to apply to all the counties in that class.

Grebing said the ruling dealt with state laws and not constitutional amendments.

Government officials and lawmakers feared that the ruling would jeopardize hundreds of special laws.

In April 1995, voters approved a constitutional amendment that preserved existing special laws and allowed for such laws to be enacted in the future.

Southeast Missouri school superintendents Dr. Dan Tallent and Arnold Bell hope voters pass the two amendments on Tuesday's ballot. Tallent and Bell said passage of Amendment 3 would keep the state from having to pour more money into funding the Kansas City School District.

Tallent is superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District. Bell heads up the Sikeston School District and is secretary of the Southeast Missouri Superintendents Association. The association has endorsed both measures.

If the levy for the Kansas City schools is too low, the state would have to bail out the district, Bell said.

If that happens, that would mean less state aid for Missouri's other school districts, both Bell and Tallent said.

Closing Kansas City schools isn't an option because suburban school districts in that area couldn't accommodate all the students, he said.

"It becomes a logistics problem," said Bell. "The only way out is for the state to step in and provide educational programs for children."

Amendment 4 would increase the bonded indebtedness school districts could incur with voter approval.

Under the measure, a school district could have bonding capacity of up to 15 percent of the value of tangible, taxed property in the district compared to the current level of 10 percent.

Bell said the increased bonding capacity is needed in school districts where there has been population growth.

Bell said the Sikeston School District currently has a little over $5 million in debt. Its bonding capacity is $15 million.

But if student enrollment jumps in future years, the district could need to build new school buildings. Without increased bonding capacity, the district could be in a position where it couldn't submit a bond issue to voters, Bell said.

Tallent also supports Amendment 4. But he said he doesn't expect the Cape Girardeau School District would ever need bonding capacity of more than 10 percent of assessed valuation.

The district currently has debt of $14 million, well short of its $40 million ceiling.

But Bell said the Cape Girardeau school system benefits from commercial and industrial growth that has led to significant increases in assessed valuation.

He said that isn't the case for many rural school districts.

Many rural school districts are seeing increases in student enrollment without a corresponding increase in new construction or development of new businesses. As a result the assessed valuations and resulting tax revenue haven't kept pace, he said.

Proposed constitutional amendments

Amendment No. 3

Ballot reads: Kansas City's board of education may set operating levy at rate up to but not equal to 1995 rate set by court order. Rate equal to or higher than 1995 rate requires voter approval.

What it means: The amendment would give the Kansas City school board the authority to maintain a property tax levy of up to $4.95 per $100 assessed valuation once the federal court order on desegregation is lifted. Without the amendment, the tax rate automatically would revert to $2.75.

Amendment No. 4

Ballot reads: Sets maximum bonding capacity for school districts, with voter approval, at an amount not to exceed 15 percent of the value of taxable tangible property in the district.

What it means: The amendment would increase the level of bonded indebtedness that school districts could incur with voter approval. Currently, school districts are limited to bonding capacity of up to 10 percent of the value of property in the district.

What it takes to pass the amendments: Each amendment takes a simple majority to pass.