VOTERS REJECT CITY SCHOOL ISSUES; JACKSON, DELTA, KELLY VOTERS PASS BOND ISSUES

Voters in three area school districts approved bond issues Tuesday, but voters in the Cape Girardeau School District rejected a bond issue and building fund levy hike.

The proposed $25 million bond issue received only 43 percent of the vote, well short of the approximately 57 percent of the vote needed for passage. The vote was 3,778 yes to 4,954 no.

A proposed 27-cent hike in the building fund levy for the Cape school district received about 47 percent of the vote, 4,049 yes to 4,577 no. A simple majority was needed for passage.

But voters in Jackson, Kelly and Delta approved bond issues.

The two Cape Girardeau school measures would have financed construction of an elementary school and a middle school, an addition to Jefferson Elementary School and improvements to other schools.

The school bond issue carried only four of 19 voting precincts in the district, while the levy hike passed in five wards.

About 8,700 of the district's nearly 20,000 voters turned Tuesday.

"I think there is a general mood of disappointment," Neyland Clark, Cape Girardeau Public Schools superintendent, said Tuesday night. "Everyone worked real hard on the campaign."

He said the turnout was higher than the 6,000 or 6,500 that school officials had expected.

"I think the last-minute opposition that had totally erroneous information on the news was a definite factor," said Clark.

"I think right now we need to take time to step back and look at the numbers and how it was presented," he said.

Clark suggested school officials may have to consider submitting another funding measure to voters in the future.

"The problems still exist. We still have buildings that are not safe and loss of revenue to surrounding districts," said Clark. "We still don't have enough money to maintain our buildings."

Retired Cape Girardeau businessman Joe Mirgeaux offered a different perspective.

"The people have spoken," he said Tuesday night.

Mirgeaux and Fred Withrow, a former principal in the school system, were vocal critics of the school issues.

Citizens Against the School Bond Issue, a group led by Mirgeaux and Withrow, ran a last-minute advertising campaign against the ballot measures.

"I think the taxpayers felt they were expected to give a blank check to a large bond issue that was not fully explained," Mirgeaux said in a statement that he said represented not only his views, but those of other opponents.

He contended the school district plan was "too secretive" and voters "resented scare tactics, which were so evident to everyone."

Mirgeaux said proponents tried to scare voters by referring to the possibility that a major earthquake would kill or injure children in the district's aging school buildings.

He said it was clearly a pocketbook issue with voters, who are faced with the possibility of future federal and state tax increases.

"They (the public) saw no plans and really didn't know what they were getting," said Mirgeaux.

JACKSON

In Jackson, Superintendent of Schools Wayne Maupin said passage of the proposal in his district was: "a victory for the kids in the Jackson School District."

Voters in the district overwhelmingly approved a no-tax increase, $4.7 million bond issue to build a $5.4 million middle school.

The middle school proposal received 76 percent of the total vote - 3,230 voted for the bond issue and 1,016 opposed it.

"I'm extremely excited about the prospect of a new facility," Maupin said. "The new middle school will move our district forward and will help us resolve some of the problems we now face as a growing school district. The bottom line is that the kids in the Jackson school district will all benefit from the strong support for the school district that was shown here tonight."

School Board President Jack T. Knowlan, Jr., said the large majority clearly shows the strong support the school district has among the citizens. "Traditionally, when the chips are down and we have needed to move forward, the voters have passed the bond issues needed to help us keep pace with our growth," said Knowlan.

"Now it's full speed ahead. The new middle school will open up badly needed space we need to accommodate our future growth, and the extra space to bring our classroom sizes down."

DELTA

Delta School District voters handily approved a $1.05 million bond issue by a vote of 374 to 189. The proposition received 66 percent of the vote, well above the 57 percent needed for passage.

Issuing the bonds will allow the district to build a 19,900-square-foot addition to the Lowell Jones Building on the high school campus.

The building will provide space for a library; cafeteria; a multipurpose area; offices for the principal, superintendent, health services and secretarial staff; and classrooms for special education, business, home economics and science.

The old high school will be torn down once classes begin in the new building expected to be the second semester of the next school year.

District voters rejected a tax increase for improvements a year ago. Superintendent Larry Beshears said he thinks having to cancel school for two days last January due to crumbling bricks brought home the need for new facilities.

"People felt like it's important to keep our schools in our community," he said.

KELLY

Voters overwhelmingly approved the $1.2 million bond issue for the Kelly School District Tuesday.

"I have good news," said Kelly Superintendent Mike Johnson during a phone interview Tuesday night, "The bond issue passed by 67.7 percent!"

Voters approved the measure 530 to 252.

The bond issue was put forth to renovate the existing gymnasium and home economics classroom; construction of four new classrooms, science labs and elementary library; and repairs and renovation to make the entire school air conditioned. In addition, a refrigeration unit will be replaced.

The issue was planned without a tax increase. To compensate, the existing debt service levy due to expire in 1997 will be extended to 2012.

"This is fantastic," Johnson said. "It was all for the kids it's their future we're all tickled to death."

Johnson said that the school will begin asking for bids on the needed work immediately.

"The green light is on, and we're ready to go," he said.

Staff writers Sam Blackwell, David Hente and Cathryn Maya contributed information to this story.