Cape schools' former finance director placed on leave

The administrative shake-up in the Cape Girardeau School District continued with Brenda McCowan, recently replaced as finance director, being placed on administrative leave as of Wednesday.

The decision of the school board, which took place in a closed session Tuesday, was announced by Dr. Steven Trautwein following an emergency closed session Wednesday evening. The session, called about two hours before it was set to begin at 7 p.m., was an emergency because the board needed "to respond to a personnel issue that required immediate board attention," Trautwein announced just prior to the vote to go into private session.

The Missouri Open Meetings Law, commonly known as the Sunshine Law, requires 24 hours' notice of meetings except in emergency situations.

McCowan was replaced as finance director in early November. A school district audit released in November found several problems with the district's finances, including the failure to record a $2.5 million debt payment on district financial statements, and three instances of failure to comply with state laws governing school district budgeting.

McCowan will receive her salary while on administrative leave. McCowan could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

McCowan's job shift in November followed the announcement by Dr. David Scala that he intended to step down as superintendent at the end of the school year despite having two years left on his contract. The board on Nov. 20 placed Scala on administrative leave and announced his contract would be terminated effective Dec. 19.

When McCowan was replaced as finance director, she was named coordinator of federal programs and grants.

Also, the board on Tuesday was forced to revise the tax levy it had imposed in August to reflect the amount actually being charged taxpayers. The board approved a combined operating and debt service levy of $4.16 per $100 assessed valuation in August. However, when tax bills were sent to property owners in October, they reflected a total levy of $4.0284 cents per $100 assessed value.

The district's approved tax levy included a rollback of the operating fund levy required by the tax limitation rules of the state constitution, commonly known as the Hancock Amendment. That same rollback, however, was applied to the debt service levy of the district when the district's tax rate was reported to the county for collection.

The debt service levy is exempt from Hancock Amendment rollbacks because the tax rate must be sufficient to make the district's debt payments.

The error in the tax rate resulted in the district losing approximately $700,000 that would have been collected if the rate approved by the board had been correctly reported to the county.

During the open session Monday, Trautwein said, the board approved a shift of money to the debt service fund to make sure it had sufficient revenue to make next year's payments.

Asked if the tax rate issues played a role in the board's decision, Trautwein said, "I can't tell you anything at this time."

And when he was asked if the Wednesday meeting was related to McCowan's status with the district, Trautwein said, "I'm not at liberty to answer that yet."

He did say that as a result of the board's actions Tuesday, the district will have sufficient funds in the debt service levy to meet payments due in 2008 and to proceed with alterations to the administrative building to accommodate the district's alternative education program.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126