CHAFFEE NEEDS ADDITIONAL OPERATIONAL FUNDING

CHAFFEE -- Superintendent Bob Biggs is not unhappy with the Chaffee School District report card, but he believes additional operational funding will make future reports even better.

The annual school report card was one of more than 500 released by Missouri public school districts earlier this month. State law mandates the annual release of educational and financial data to district patrons, local media outlets and local state legislators.

Chaffee's 1998-99 school report card noted very little change from the previous year. Student performance on the ACT college assessment dropped six-tenths of 1 percent but remained above the state average. The ratio of students to classroom teachers in Chaffee schools improved marginally to 18 to one, coming in under the state average of 19 students to each classroom teacher.

"I remember when everybody was in the 20s, so I think our student to teacher ratio is quite desirable," said Biggs.

Less desirable to Biggs is his district's $1.38 tax rate for operational costs, which falls well below the state average of $2.68. The funding, which is used to pay the bulk of nonsalary-related costs, is not enough to make ends meet, despite a loss of some 100 students in the district over the past five years.

"The problem is when you lose 100 students, you don't automatically lose a like amount of costs for utilities or etc.," Biggs said. "They're not all from the same grade level, so you still have to teach the same number of subjects, and you've still got to have a certain number of teachers."

In November, district voters rejected a proposal to increase the operating tax levy by 85 cents. Had the measure passed, the district's total tax rate would have increased from $2.81 per $100 assessed valuation to $3.61 per $100 assessed valuation.

Biggs said he hopes voters will approve a new tax increase proposal Feb. 8. This time, school officials are asking voters to improve a 44-cent tax levy increase for operational costs.

"We've cut where we can cut, but we've still got to stay competitive and we've still got to pay the bills," he said. "It won't have any effect on the debt service."

In 1996, Chaffee voters approved a tax increase to improve several school buildings. Voters demonstrated their support for Chaffee schools then, Biggs said, and he's hoping they will be supportive of the district's needs now.

He said he hopes the fact that every dollar generated in local tax funding results in about $3 in additional state funding will be an incentive to support the tax increase proposal.

"Our buildings are in great shape, it's just the day-to-day operating expenses where we need some help," he said. "If my taxes are going to go up, I'd much rather get a three-for-one deal than not."