TAX PLAN BACKED BY CANDIDATE; SCHOEMEHL REJECTS REFORM PROPOSALS

St. Louis Mayor Vincent Schoemehl, who is flying around the state in his quest to become governor next year, says he will actively support a $385 million tax package for education that voters will decide Nov. 5.

But Schoemehl warned the plan will not solve all the problems of education and it would be a mistake for people to view it that way.

"This whole bill has to be looked at as the beginning point," he said here Monday night. "Do not look at this bill as an end to education needs in this state," he said.

Schoemehl said some of the so-called reforms in the bill are simply "smoke and mirrors" that only give the appearance of reform. Reforms like guaranteed diplomas make good press-release material but "the realities just don't fit with the theory," he said.

"You just can't change education with an act of the legislature," said Schoemehl. "Everybody is off on slogans but, in reality, we have to do the basics first."

A Democratic candidate for governor in 1992, Schoemehl met with a small group of teachers from Oran at Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport to discuss his views on education and the proposed tax increase. Later, the mayor spoke with representatives from several labor organizations in Cape Girardeau.

Schoemehl said if reforms in the bill won't work they will need to be changed. He said he understood many educators were concerned about parts of the bill and that additional funding was not adequate, but it is in the best interests of education to take this package for now.

"We can take the things that do work and change the things that don't," he said. "If we get over-focused on points of confusion we could very well blow $385 million in funds for education."

In drafting a new school foundation formula, Schoemehl said factors that need to be considered are: the cost of living in that school district; the local tax base; and the socio-economic background of students. "The whole purpose here is to try and level the playing field and get money to school districts that have the less local resources available," he explained.

Discussing some of the problems with smaller school districts, Schoemehl said some consolidation is inevitable. If he had been involved in writing the education bill that was passed last week, Schoemehl said he would have provided incentives for school districts to consolidate so it could be handled in a positive way rather than by trying to force it.

His No. 1 priority for higher education, Schoemehl said, "is accessibility. I want everyone to be within a one-hour commute to a four-year college." That kind of accessibility will have to involve the use of community colleges with some kind of a video communications system and also relates to a better transportation system in Missouri.

As one of 11 children, Schoemehl explained he tried to go to college as a freshman at the University of Missouri in Columbia but simply could not afford to pay the costs of room and board in addition to tuition. So he transferred to the University of Missouri-St. Louis; he attributes his degree to the fact that "the education system in this state was available to me."

The teachers who met with Schoemehl expressed concern that the new programs included in the education package are inadequately funded, as other reforms have been, and also expressed fear that people would see this as the end to all education problems. "It frightens me that the people of this state will think they have fixed the problem," said one teacher.

Another said she has been teaching for 20 years, but is making just $400 more a year than a beginning teacher in her district. Another problem cited was a lack of supplies and that many teachers are having to buy their own.

Schoemehl asked the teachers to express some of the problems they saw in the classroom. They said they ranged from a lack of self motivation to a lack of parental involvement and some families who are third-generation welfare recipients.

Another concern cited was that salaries were too low in many rural school districts to encourage young people to teach. Schoemehl said in traveling around the state talking with teachers about problems in education, he is not finding many teachers in their 20s and early 30s.

Schoemehl said salaries need to be raised to motivate young people to enter the profession and view teaching as a career again.

The mayor said funding for elementary and secondary education has decreased in recent years. He said that in fiscal year 1982 spending for education was 32 percent of the general revenue budget and now it is 26 percent. Even with St. Louis and Kansas City desegregation costs figured in, the percentage is around 29 percent, he said.

Schoemehl said he supports spending one-third of the general revenue budget on elementary and secondary education.

Having adequate resources in the future will require more than simply passing tax increases; it will require reallocating resources to priorities like education, transportation, health care, economic growth, and services to families, the mayor said.

He suggested that additional revenue needs beyond the proposed tax increase for education and social programs could come from making cuts in the budget. The additional revenue needs amount to about 8 percent of the state's present budget, he said. Schoemehl said: "I haven't seen a budget yet I can't cut 8 percent out of. Cutting 8 percent from a budget ain't heavy lifting."

Schoemehl said the number of state employees have grown 22 percent during the 1980s. During his 10 years as mayor of St. Louis, he said the number of employees has decreased from 10,387 to about 4,000.