IT'S TIME TO END HOLD-HARMLESS STATUS

Hold harmless: It certainly is a contradiction of terms.

Cape Girardeau and 50 other Missouri school districts are lucky enough to be saddled with the hold harmless designation. That means these schools won't receive any less in yearly appropriations than the 1992-93 year.

But it also means they wouldn't receive any more. And that's where the harm comes in.

Finally, there is talk in the legislature of providing some relief for hold harmless school districts. But the Legislature ended its session Friday without action.

It's a shame the legislation didn't move farther. Some narrow-minded lawmakers worried only how the bill would affect their schools in terms of less dollars. Surely there's enough in state coffers to go around.

Government revenues have been skyrocketing in recent years. The surplus is so substantial that the state has been forced to refund money to taxpayers, thanks to the Hancock Amendment. With all these added dollars it seems ludicrous that some school districts must receive the same amount year after year.

Seven years ago, Missouri's Legislature passed sweeping changes in the way public schools are funded. The idea was to balance wealthy school districts with poor ones.

So districts with a significant local tax base were classified as hold harmless. Both Cape Girardeau and Nell Holcomb were among the districts in Southeast Missouri.

A growing enrollment base helped a number of districts, such as Jackson, escape the hold harmless designation.

Over the years, a small number of districts have remained stuck at the 1992-93 level, including Cape Girardeau. This district has literally lost out on hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time when state educational spending reached record levels.

Is it any wonder other school districts of similar size have been able to move forward with improvements? Cape Girardeau has struggled in its budget -- both in curriculum offerings and teacher pay. Budget cuts have fueled hard feelings. Each year districts are called on to do more with state educational guidelines and so-called reforms. There's more to do with the same amount of money.

Nell Holcomb was lucky enough to break the chains of hold harmless this last year. A slight increase in enrollment was enough to put the district out of the hold harmless situation. It enabled the district to collect an additional $40,000.

But school officials aren't celebrating. They well realize that even a slight change in enrollment or tax base could put the district right back in hold harmless status.

It's time to provide hold harmless districts with some long overdue relief. Perhaps a grassroots movement from the affected schools during the recess could help build support before the Legislature reconvenes this fall.