LETTERS: BOLLWERK OFFERS SCHOOL-FUND IDEAS

To the editor:

I find it interesting that exactly one month after I addressed the Cape Girardeau Board of Education regarding my concern about excessive overspending by the business department, the superintendent says there are serious budget problems. I find it equally interesting that Dr. Dan Tallent is trying to mislead the taxpayers by claiming that the budget problems stem from the fact that the district is a hold-harmless school district. In addition to that fallacy, it appears he is trying to place the blame for the financial woes on the backs of our teachers and classified staff because they received pay increases. Neither of these is the root of the district's financial problems. The reason the district is depleting its fund balances is because of unnecessary and frivolous overspending. In plain talk, the district is spending more than it is receiving. The answer is simple: Stop spending more than is received.

Let me help the average taxpayers understand the term "hold harmless" as it applies to the Cape Girardeau schools. It basically means the district is receiving no increase in state revenue but no less than it received in 1993. To you and me, hold harmless is equivalent to not getting a raise at work but guaranteed not to receive less pay that you did in 1993. So what do we do when we know we will have no more income than the previous year? We stop buying things. We do not go out and buy a new refrigerator. We don't go buy a boat. We don't hire a maid to clean our house. We don't do a lot of things. Why? Because we don't have the money. It's not that difficult to understand. The board needs to do the same thing. Stop increasing the school district's expenditures immediately.

When Dr. Tallent was hired a year ago, it was due to his knowledge of school finance. He said he would take care of the deficit and balance the budget. Now he says the deficit was created by a previous school board and he can't do it this year, so he'll try to do it next year. And don't forget the hold-harmless excuse. It looks like a shell game to me or that he's avoiding the task. This is not very good stewardship of our precious tax dollars on his part.

As far as blaming the problems on staff salary increases, Dr. Tallent is looking at the wrong salary schedule. Our hardworking teachers and classified staff received nickel-and-dime increases compared to school administrators. The total annual salaries for the administrative staff totals a staggering $1,038,759, not including fringe benefits. Let's not blame the teachers.

I present these facts and figures as the basis for my solutions for balancing the budget. Over the last several months, I have studied the school district budget and reviewed the monthly expenditures in detail. I urge the board to:

1. Reduce administrators' salaries and eliminate all administrative travel.

2. Discontinue expenditures for nonessential, noninstructional frills such as luncheons for school board members and administrative staff (more than $1,500 in September and October), cellular telephones for the business manager, superintendent and technology coordinator, and payment of administrators' professional dues. For the salaries we are paying these individuals, they can buy their own lunch and pay their own dues just like teachers and aides do.

3. Require the board office clerical staff to work their regular hours. We cannot afford to let them off at 3:30 p.m. on Fridays and take vacation during the week and then pay them to work overtime on the weekends, nor give them days off just to be a nice guy. Set reasonable work quotas for them. If they do not make their quotas, then replace them with someone who can. The district could hire two bookkeepers for what the district pays for one ($29,000 plus her overtime).

4. Stop hiring additional staff members every time some special-interest group whines. The district has no new money, so it can't spend any more. Follow the example of corporate America: When you don't have any additional revenue coming in, it's time to downsize.

5. Each board members needs to ask questions about the 40 or more pages of bills they approve each month on the consent agenda. They'd be surprised if they really examined the bills.

I would beg the board to not just "instruct Dr. Tallent to correct the deficit spending problem" as Ferrell Ervin stated, but require him to do it this year beginning this month. Don't pass the buck. Please, I'm counting on you to use my tax dollars wisely.

DR. RICHARD L. BOLLWERK

Cape Girardeau

EDITOR'S NOTE: Dr. Bollwerk is a former associate superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District who was fired earlier this year and who recently pleaded guilty to charges resulting from a large number of harassing faxes that were sent to school offices throughout the district. As a part of his plea bargain, he cannot attend school board meetings. A check of the 1997-98 budget that took effect July 1 shows that 21 top administrators listed as executive administrators or building-level administrators have salaries totaling $1,083,387, or 4.2 percent of the $25,632,253 budget. The payroll for the rest of the district's 580 employees -- teachers, aides, clerical staff and others -- is budgeted at $15,006,747, or 58.5 percent of the total budget.