TEN ARTICLES TO EXPLORE PROP B

Proponents of Proposition B hope Missouri voters on Nov. 5 will give a passing grade to the $385 million tax-and-reform package for education.

The Southeast Missourian today begins a five-part, 10-story series examining the ballot measure.

Proposition B has received broad-based support from a coalition of educators, business and political leaders.

The measure would provide increased funding for elementary and secondary schools as well as higher education, with the funding tied to a series of reforms.

If approved by voters, the measure initially would provide $190 million a year in added funding for public schools and an equal amount for the state's public colleges and universities.

Another $5 million a year would be earmarked for job development and training.

The money for education and job development and training would only be earmarked for 10 years, after which the money would go into the state's general revenue fund unless otherwise reallocated by the Missouri General Assembly.

The added funding would come from corporate, sales, cigarette and tobacco taxes, and a limit on state deductions for federal income taxes.

Much of it, an estimated $167 million a year, would come from a three-eighths-cent sales tax.

Opponents of Proposition B say such a tax is regressive and would hurt people who are poor and those who are on fixed incomes. They also object to business tax credits that are a part of the job training portion of the ballot measure.

Some opponents feel there are too many strings attached to the allocation of Proposition B money, which will force schools to create programs just to get the money.

Still others, like the Missouri League of Women Voters, have complained that Proposition B doesn't provide enough money for education.

But state leaders, from Gov. John Ashcroft down, have voiced support for Proposition B, contending that such a tax measure is essential to improve education in the state.

Ashcroft has said the measure is "the best thing we can do for the future of our children." The governor will bring his pitch to town Tuesday when he plans to tour a Cape Girardeau school building with Southeast Missouri State University President Kala Stroup and Cape Girardeau Public Schools Superintendent Neyland Clark.

Business leaders say a better educated workforce is vital for Missouri businesses to compete in the marketplace.

Supporters concede the measure may not be perfect, but they say it offers the best chance for improving education. Improving education can't be done without more money, they maintain.

The money would be used for classroom supplies, equipment, teachers or specified programs such as Parents As Teachers, and reducing class sizes in the primary grades.

In higher education, it would provide added revenue for building maintenance and equipment, fund new programs that would fit in with sharply defined missions for colleges and universities, provide additional scholarships and expand community college services.

It also would give the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education authority to eliminate duplicate, unnecessary or inefficient programs.

Proponents also contend Proposition B has some built-in accountability measures. For example, school districts would be required to issue annual "report cards" to people in their districts that would include information on enrollment, attendance, dropout rates and performance of students on achievement tests.

Supporters say the ballot measure won't have a major impact on the pocketbooks of most Missouri taxpayers. It's estimated that a two-earner Missouri family with two dependents and income of $32,500 a year the median Missouri family income would pay $5 more a year in sales and income taxes, a 42-cent-a-month increase.

The upcoming vote on Proposition B comes at a time when many Missouri school districts are facing financial hardships, some even financial disaster.

State education officials report that nine Missouri school districts are essentially broke and as many as 50 are projected to finish the school year with budget deficits.

Missouri ranks 47th among the 50 states in terms of its per-capita appropriations for education. The state spends $117 per person on education, the lowest in the Midwest, said Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast Missouri State University.

In contrast, Minnesota spends $218 per person; Kentucky, $148; Tennessee, $147, and Illinois, $144.

Missouri's public schools and colleges have seen repeated cuts in state funding because of a sluggish economy and the increasing cost of federal-court-mandated school desegregation programs. As a result, educators say, the state's colleges and universities have been forced to raise tuition and other student fees.

At Southeast Missouri State alone, budget withholdings and cuts have reduced state funding of the institution by more than $2.8 million since the start of the fiscal year on July 1.

As a result, Wallhausen said, the university has cut services and eliminated staff positions. The Southeast Board of Regents recently approved a hike in tuition and textbook fees, effective with the spring semester, to help make up for the budget cuts.

Parents, he said, want their children to be able to attend a high-quality but affordable public college. "But that option may be closed by the time (today's elementary school children) reach college age, unless there is a significant improvement in state funding," said Wallhausen.

He said, "Either the state or the students must pay more for the service, or we reduce the number of students we take each year, or we settle for poor teachers and poor equipment and poor facilities."