SCHOOL BOARD SET TO DISCUS WAYS TO FUND BUILDINGS

As the Cape Girardeau School District Board of Education prepares to discuss financing for new construction, officials might form a citizen's group to examine long-range planning in the district.

Board member Bob Fox is co-chairman of a committee looking at ways to redraw elementary school boundaries in the district, a task that has drawn the ire of some district patrons, who say it is a ploy by the board to get voter approval of a bond issue.

Although Fox denied that is tthe motivation behind redistricting discussions, he said that perception isn't likely to improve when the board meets later this month to discuss financing strategies to pay for projects identified in the district's strategic plan.

The board is scheduled to meet Feb. 27 with representatives of A.G. Edwards' national office. Dr. Don Bemis will review the district's bond issues, and discuss ways to garner public support for financing methods.

Until voters approve a bond issue, the long-range plan won't be implemented.

Superintendent Neyland Clark said a planning advisory committee of residents would help the district "regroup" in the wake of three failed school bond issues.

In 1991, three such committees met to discuss the district's finances, facilities and curriculum. The exercise was called Project Partnership.

The facilities committee recommended the district build a middle school and an elementary school and set aside more money for building maintenance and land acquisition. The curriculum committee also supported a middle school.

The finance committee suggested putting a bond issue to finance an elementary school on the ballot alone, and expressed concerns that the elementary school project would be tainted by parental concerns about a middle school.

Voters subsequently rejected two bond proposals to construct buildings and a third for mainenance and repairs.

Board member Lyle Davis said the district's long-range plan includes redistricting and construction of a middle school and an elementary school. The plan also calls for improvements to some district buildings and closure of others.

Regardless of whether voters approve funding for new buildings, Davis said the district must redraw elementary school boundaries. That process would be easier with a new building, he added.

Board member John Campbell said the board must determine what the community is willing to pay for before it can draft a strategic plan that will be implemented.

"Until the electorate decides they want to pay for it," the district's planning is at a standstill, Campbell said. "It's a waste of time to plan a $25 million project when we can't get funding for $2 million."