Cape school board backs repeal of prevailing-wage law

The Cape Girardeau School Board approved a resolution supporting the repeal of state prevailing-wage laws during its Monday night meeting.

The resolution concerns Missouri Senate Bill 20. If passed, it would eliminate current pay requirements public entities must follow to pay workers on construction projects.

Critics of the prevailing wage say current regulations make public projects more expensive than they would be if wages were determined by local market forces.

Board member Adrian Toole spoke in favor of the school-board resolution, citing a recent editorial written by Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy and published in the Southeast Missourian.

Tracy’s editorial outlined the process by which the county commission recently passed a resolution similar to one approved by the school board, urging lawmakers to repeal prevailing-wage laws.

Toole called existing regulation “basically an arbitrary minimum-wage rate that’s assigned” that he said puts entities such as Missouri school districts “at a significant competitive disadvantage.”

As a businessman, Toole said he’s struggled to understand why prevailing-wage laws were enacted in the first place.

“It makes no sense,” he said, later adding, “I am strongly in favor of this resolution.”

Submitted to the board by board member Tony Smee, the resolution states prevailing-wage laws “create an artificially compounded labor rate that must be applied to school construction projects, causing the unnecessary expenditure of untold millions of dollars annually in Missouri that could be better utilized to serve students and taxpayers.”

The board voted unanimously to approve the resolution with the exception of board president Jeff Glenn, who abstained, citing financial considerations.

“I have a client who receives funding from some of those involved,” Glenn said.

Superintendent James Welker said after the meeting the board’s decision to support the resolution was influenced by costs associated with prevailing wages.

“We always try to make sure we follow the guidelines established by that law,” he said, but added: “Since we did bond issues in 2010 and again in 2015, obviously [prevailing wages] had an effect on those projects and the costs involved.”

The board also voted to move forward a plan that would bring the U.S. States Air Force’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps to the school district.

Welker said the district has been working for months with Mike Goodin, a consultant and Air Force veteran, to bring the JROTC program to Cape Girardeau in the 2018-2019 school year.

The JROTC will be open to ninth- through 12th-grade students and will be the first such program implemented.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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