LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: STATE STATS SHOW SCHOOL STRENGTHS

To the editor:

I am among the majority who have always assumed the Jackson School District is really first-rate. However, all the recent negative comments floating around caused me to do a little checking. The state of Missouri Web site at www.state.mo.us/ offers a Missouri School Report Card, which contains a wealth of information.

For comparison, I arbitrarily pulled up reports on Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, Sikeston, Perryville and Farmington in addition to Jackson. Happily, all six schools looked very good, and all were well above state averages. Beyond that, I was amazed at Jackson's dominance. The district led all six schools in rate of attendance, graduation rate and MAP and ACT scores and had the lowest dropout rate. Most notable, however, was the annual expenditure per student. Jackson, at $4,377, was the lowest by far and a whopping $1,500 below the state average. Jackson had the highest average teacher's salary among the six schools but was below the state average and had the second highest percentage of teachers with master's degrees (second only to Perryville).

Concerning the purchase of the property in the eastern part of Jackson, those people criticizing the cost simply have not kept up with the current value of property. Compared to recent purchases by industry, developers and other public bodies, the school property was a very good buy. It just makes good sense to build a school in the area that is experiencing the highest rate of growth. Let those children go to school close to home and avoid making the traffic problems around existing schools even worse.

It's clear that the Jackson district taxpayer is getting a good bang for his buck. This can only result from good management. Criticism of the board seems unfounded. I believe board members when they tell us they need more money to keep up with the meteoric growth of the district. I will vote yes on the school issues and will encourage all of my friends and relatives to do the same. We should provide our Board of Education the resources it needs to continue to give our students the highest quality academic environment possible. Although my own children are grown and gone from the area, I feel we still have no better place to spend our tax money that on our children, our future.

JACK PIEPENBROK

Jackson, Mo.