Cape district makes bad choices

To the editor:

Months ago when the Cape Girardeau School Board and its superintendent presented the voodoo of concentric circles to prepare its staff and the public for budget cuts, I spoke at a board meeting. My point: Raise property taxes by exercising the district's rights under state law so that no staff member would lose his job and there would be little or no effect on students.

The district chose to do what it said it would not do. It reduced staff and directly affected the student body. Contrary to the garbage from the board and the superintendent's office, people who had direct contact with students lost jobs. Much of the staff reduction was in special services, disregarding the ideal of the No Child Left Behind legislation.

Now the board has decided not only to cut staff, but also to raise the property tax. I am fully aware this can be done without a vote of the people, but it should not be done without public scrutiny. Welcome, Cape Girardeau, to a district that chose to raise your taxes while running a district designed to meet only the minimum state requirements for direct student contact while sustaining at or near the state maximum for administration. Forget the NCLB legislation. Your district has chosen to adopt the No Administrator Left Behind ideal.

The district will get my money by state law, but it will never have my support as long as the school district is run in this manner.

DANIEL H. RAU, Cape Girardeau