Proposal seeks good school ideas

To the editor:

Your 2003 Cape Girardeau School District numbers contradict the numbers published by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. You say in 2003 our 23 administrators were paid 4.3 percent of the $32 million budget, or an average of $59,826 to each one. DESE reports the average Cape administrator made $65,244.

DESE also reports 2003 general administration costs ($1,895,518) and building administration costs ($1,794,876) total $3,690,394, which is a whopping 10.1 percent of the $36,493,909 budget -- up 29.7 percent over 2001. Do we need that state audit?

House Speaker Catherine Hanaway calls for reasoned debate in search of wiser spending of school resources. She suggests a fresh approach, accepting that others might come forward with better ones, and asks all to contribute any ideas that promise better results for Missouri's children. That's real and courageous leadership.

Your rejection of her call for constructive debate, by defending the kind of mismanagement we suffer here at Cape's schools, contributes no ideas that lead us to constructive solution of the real education crisis and only stifles open debate. Please don't join the nattering nabobs who jump to say no to those who put themselves on the line and offer fresh ideas, inviting open, inclusive democratic forums, genuinely searching for real solutions.

As George Steinbrenner says, "Lead. Follow. Or get out of the way."

T. ROBIN COLE

Cape Girardeau