TALLENT: PUT DESEG FUNDS IN PROGRAMS; QUESTIONS FLOW AT HEARING

State Sen. Anita Yeckel, right, listened as Sen. David Klaritch asked Cape Girardeau School Superintendent Dan Tallent how funds that formerly went to desegregation programs in Kansas City and St. Louis schools should be used. The issue was discussed at a public hearing in Cape Girardeau Tuesday night.

Cape Girardeau's school superintendent, Dr. Dan Tallent, stood firm against a barrage of questions Tuesday from members of a joint legislative committee charged with developing education funding legislation.

Tallent was the first witness to testify during a public hearing before the 18-member Joint Interim Committee on Desegregation and School Finance Issues. More than 60 school administrators and others attended the hearing, which took place at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School.

It was the first of five public hearings scheduled throughout the state to consider how Missouri can move beyond court-ordered desegregation of public schools in St. Louis and Kansas City.

Tallent presented a short testimonial on behalf of Cape Girardeau schools and the Missouri Association of School Administrators, then spent the next hour answering questions from the 11 committee members present.

He told the lawmakers the basic wishes of MASA and his school district for the committee were twofold.

First, he said, they hope the committee concentrates their recommendations in maintaining a fully-funded school formula, which is used to determine the amount of state funding each school district receives. Secondly, he said, they want the committee to support placing any savings gained from the phasing out of court-ordered desegregation into categorical spending such as transportation and special- and gifted-education programming.

He also said that MASA and his school district support chartered schools only if the local school boards serve as the governing bodies that determine whether those schools could be created.

""We feel that full funding of categorical programs will be beneficial for all districts in Missouri," Tallent said. "I feel like that should be in addition to any monies we are currently putting into the formula. Our cost for special education, transportation, and other categorical issues are going to go up. We would like to see some money go into those categorical programs that are mandated for all districts."

The most intense questioning Tallent received came from legislators representing districts in and near St. Louis and Kansas City. Sen. William "Lacy" Clay Jr., D-St. Louis, recommended Tallent be careful not to be "divisive to the public" when discussing desegregation savings. The money used for desegregation came from the state's general revenue account and not from the money allocated for education, he said.

Sen. David Klarich, R-Ballwin, asked Tallent how much help should be provided to the receiving districts and districts of origin that participated in court-ordered desegregation.

"Now that we have been released from that court order, we are going to have a vacuum in these districts because we, too, are held harmless," Klarich said. "How do you suggest the state funnel money into those districts, or into Sen. Clay's district, where they'll be returning?"

Tallent stuck to his original position, suggesting that some of the savings be placed into categorical funding while other money be channeled into the formula to ensure that all districts receive additional funding, as opposed to only those with higher poverty ratios or minority demographics.

Also addressing the committee was Lance Loewenstein, a member of the Kansas City School District Board of Trustees. Loewenstein told the committee court-ordered desegregation provided the district with many monetary gains but few educational gains for the students.

"The Kansas City, Mo., school district's desegregation case has played a central role in depriving rural Missouri school districts from significant sources of funding from the state for many years," he said. "The desegregation case has, in my opinion, done little to address academic achievement of students in our school district."

Loewenstein told the committee his district was making radical spending cuts to adjust to the phasing out of desegregation money, but additional state funding will still be needed. The educational needs of poor urban students are different from those of poor students in rural Missouri, he said. The additional funding would be added to local tax funding to directly address some of those needs.

Although legislators applauded the Kansas City board's efforts, some outstate legislators questioned how they could justify additional funding for the poor in the urban districts when their constituents faced the same problems.

"How do I justify helping to keep magnate schools open to my constituents," asked Rep. Linda Bartelsmeyer, R-Aurora. "Our kids face some of the same problems the urban students face."

Loewenstein said he understood the needs of Bartelsmeyer's constituents, but until the tax levy more closely resembled the nearly $5 per $100 assessed valuation paid by Kansas City constituents, no justification was really needed.

"When the other communities are more in line with that tax levy, then they would have a valid argument," he said. "Until we recognize the level of public commitment, we don't really have an argument."

Committee members will meet today from 9 a.m. until noon in the Drury Lodge Conference Room to discuss information presented during Tuesday's hearing. The committee will use comments from the hearings to form a recommendation from the committee to the General Assembly by Dec. 15.