EVERYTHING `FAIR GAME' FOR SCHOOL BUDGET CUTS

Every program in Cape Girardeau public schools is "fair game" for the budget ax that is set to fall this spring, said Superintendent Neyland Clark.

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education heard a report about an upcoming $1 million budget cut at its Monday meeting. Clark outlined the process planned for recommending where cuts and reductions will be made. He said he anticipates a recommendation in the spring.

The resignations of two administrators were announced at the board meeting. Gary Gilbert, director of the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational School, and Ron Haggard, principal at Franklin Elementary School, will both retire from education at the end of the school year.

Clark said of the budget cuts: "We are walking into this with no preconceived notions. Everything is fair game."

A $1 million budget reduction will impact students, he said.

"We have tried to insulate the classroom as much as possible," he said. "But with a million-dollar cut, I think personally and professionally it will be very hard to do without hurting kids."

Clark said: "We are blessed in one respect: we do have some time. But that doesn't negate the seriousness of our budget situation.

"I think there are a lot of folks who are very nervous and who have sweaty palms about what we are going to do with the budget reduction," he said. "I think the process by which the board reviews and accepts the budget reductions is as important as the reductions recommended."

A group including teachers, principals, district administrators and members of the Parent Teachers Association will be involved in making a recommendation on cuts. Input from all others will be directed to board members, he said.

Already a list is being compiled of programs added since 1988, when the last local tax increase went into effect.

"We will take that document along with the audit document and begin looking at where to cut," said Clark. "The list of new programs is just a beginning, to look at what we've added."

Stephen Delveccio, who is with the district's accounting firm, Hillin and Clark, presented the annual audit report. The report reflects the district's budget troubles.

It shows an overall decrease in revenue of $318,202 from June 30, 1990, to June 30, 1991. During the same budget year, expenditures increased by $914,139, or about 5.9 percent.

The fund balance, which is the district's savings account, decreased by $401,667, a 9.35 percent drop.

The prior budget year, from June 30, 1989, to June 30, 1990, revenues increased by $1.7 million, about a 10 percent jump.

Expenditures that year also climbed $1.6 million, about a 9.85 percent jump. The fund balance also increased by $830,673, a 23.9 percent increase.

The audit report also shows that in 1991, 60.43 percent of the district's expenditure went to instruction. In 1989, the percentage of expenditures for instruction was 52.69 percent, and in 1990 it was 54.51 percent.

The report shows that in 1991, 11.16 percent of the expenditures went to operation of the plant; 10.03 percent went to administration, both on the building level and district level; and 1.79 percent went to student activities, which include sports.

Other budget categories are: student support services, 4.32 percent; staff support services, 2.81 percent; transportation, 2.23 percent; food service, 3.33 percent; adult and community education, 4.83 percent; and facilities acquisition, 1.23 percent.

The district received 57.22 percent of its revenue from local tax dollars. That percentage is down slightly from both 1990, when it was 57.97 percent, and 1989, when it was 58.6.