SURVEY CITES SCHOOLS' PROBLEMS; SEVERAL DISTRICTS SAY THEY MUST MAKE CUTS, SEEK TAX-LEVY HIKES

Schools in Southeast Missouri are eliminating teaching positions, freezing salaries, postponing building repairs and looking at local levy increases in efforts to maintain school programs and balance budgets, said a recent poll of the region's school superintendents.

The Southeast Missouri Superintendents' Association, which represents school leaders in 34 school districts and 19 Southeast Missouri counties, announced the results of a survey assessing the effects of two withholdings in state school funds made this past summer and fall by Gov. John Ashcroft.

The cuts, totaling $75 million, or 8.1 percent of the funds originally allocated by the legislature for schools this year, were contested in court actions led by the association. The Missouri Supreme Court on March 3 upheld the withholdings.

The 8.1 percent cut represented by the two withholdings this year represented a total loss of $4,968,964 to the 34 school districts in the survey. The losses averaged $146,146 per district, and ranged from a low of $17,000 in one district to $650,000 for the highest loser.

The poll tallied results from all 34 school districts, giving a representative cross-section of the district schools, from largest to smallest, and with geographic representation across the region.

Jesse Jarvis, superintendent of the Potosi R-3 School District and president of the superintendents' association, said the latest court ruling was just "one more blow" in the continuing struggle to adequately maintain schools in the region.

Some details from the survey follow.

Tax i ncrease: Twelve of the 34 districts listed plans for a tax increase vote for 1992-93, with increase proposals ranging from 20 cents to 75 cents per $100 assessed valuation. Four of the districts reported "maybe" on a tax vote; 18 districts responded no to a tax levy increase.

Salaries: Twenty-four of the districts 71 percent have frozen their salary schedules for teachers.

Teaching positions: Twenty-two of the districts are eliminating teaching positions with a total of 62.5 positions being lost in the 34 districts, or an average of nearly two teachers per district. The range was one teacher cut in one district to 13 in another.

Activities: Ten districts report eliminating at least some activities, with a total of 19 activities definitely set for cuts. Others are planning reductions in numbers or activities, reductions in individual areas, reducing field trips and putting a "hold" on any expansions.

Building repairs: Twenty-seven districts are planning postponements of over $1.2 million in building repairs, ranging from $2,000 in one district to $180,000 in another. The survey responses also noted that the repairs, if money should eventually be available, would eventually amount to larger projects at higher costs, than if done now.

Textbook purchases: Although most districts reported "holding the line" on any cuts here, and keeping this a "first priority" in their budget, 11 districts are planning a total of $216,000 in cuts, ranging from $1,000 to $45,000.

Equipment purchases: Twenty districts plan cuts totaling $612,500, ranging from $2,000 to $145,000. One district indicated that two bus replacements "will be put off for a year or more."

Jarvis said: "These results give an overall picture of how our Southeast Missouri districts are dealing with the withholdings, but are really only the tip of the iceberg of the financial problems being faced by our schools in Southeast Missouri and throughout the state.

"We felt the public needed as complete an understanding as possible of the crisis facing us, and we felt the survey was one way to bring those points home to our region."

Bob Brison, superintendent of Scott City schools, said: "We (superintendents) are very much aware of all these things. We live with it every day and try to counteract all the shortfalls. We feel the public is not as aware of the problems. Some people may hear about their school having problems, but they go past and see the doors still open and buses still running.

"We thought we should collect some of this information and make the public more aware of our ongoing battle with the governor's office, and now the Missouri Supreme Court."

Brison said information from the survey is also being passed along to state legislators. "Superintendents are in contact with their representatives and senators on a daily basis," he said.