'WE'VE DONE ALL WE CAN': KELLY SCHOOLS TO TRY BOND ISSUE FIFTH TIME

BENTON, Mo. -- The Kelly schools Board of Education is going to try, try again to get a bond issue passed Nov. 7.

Although the higher voter turnout that usually occurs in general elections could make it more difficult to win, schools superintendent Don Abner said the district has to try because there is no more space that can be converted into classrooms.

"We've done all we can do internally," Abner said. "We just feel we have to keep putting it out there if we're going to serve the kids."

If the measure passes, the district will build a 20-classroom addition with a $4.9 million bond issue.

A four-sevenths supermajority is needed for passage of the measure, which includes a 75-cent increase to the debt service tax levy per $100 assessed valuation. The overall tax levy would increase to $3.13 per $100 assessed valuation. The bonds would be repaid over 20 years.

This will be the district's fifth attempt in three years to win passage of a tax hike. A $1.6 million bond issue that would have allowed for new school facilities and equipment was rejected twice in 1997.

The newest proposal resembles a $4.5 million bond proposal rejected twice by voters in 1999. That proposal included construction of a new vocational agriculture building and conversion of the former building into classroom space.

The vocational agriculture building project has since been completed using capital improvement funds.

Abner said the current proposal is a smaller project but is more expensive mainly because of inflation. Construction costs are skyrocketing as districts because of a thriving economy, and projects that have been delayed become more expensive every year, he said.

The district has had enrollment gains of up to 5 percent each year since 1993. Abner said much of the growth is because of the district's reputation -- that is, a reputation of providing a quality education to students in a nice, rural atmosphere.

In addition, the district covers about 100 square miles, about double the size of other Scott County school districts. Much of that land includes family farms that are now being developed in plots for new housing. Several large trailer parks also have developed, which means a larger district population without a relative increase in assessed valuation.

Abner said he believes past bond proposals have failed because long-time residents were overwhelmed by the rapidity of the growth. That and a large percentage of senior citizens living on fixed incomes have made it difficult to win voter approval of funding measures.

"We understand that, but it doesn't change our needs," Abner said.

Sixth-grade teacher Karma Beardslee agreed. Beardslee grew up on a family farm in the district that she now maintains while living in Scott City. She said she's willing to pay higher taxes because the district cannot continue to use "make-do measures" like using capital improvement funds for major renovation projects and using trailers as classrooms.

"If only people would just stop to think Somebody paid for my education, now it's time for payback,'" said Beardslee. "We have no place else to go. Every closet has been converted into a classroom already."