CAPE EDUCATORS PINCH PENNIES; COST-SAVING MEASURES AIMED AT DISTRICT RESCUE

Turning off lights and running only full dishwasher loads might not seem to be major cost-saving measures, but Cape Girardeau schools superintendent Dr. Dan Steska wants to make every penny count in the district's $23 million budget.

Steska keeps a folder of cost-saving ideas handy in case he hears a tip he thinks will help the district through a financial crunch that could cause a state "financially distressed" designation before year's end.

The Board of Education likely will ask voters to approve a tax levy increase for operating expenses in August, but officials are unsure how much of an increase is necessary to cover regular expenses and make the district's salaries more competitive.

In the meantime, Steska is collecting as many ideas as possible that will keep costs down. Some of the ideas originated with Steska, but most have come from Waste Watcher committees Steska asked each school to establish last fall.

"It all helps, first because it makes them very aware of the district's financial constraints, and second, because staff often have the best ideas and they know what we can do to increase efficiency, " he said.

Money crunch

Steska froze spending on nonessential items in the fall after a $1 million capital improvements allocation to cover construction costs of the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center was held up by litigation over the state's revenue-limiting Hancock Amendment.

The Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments next month and decide whether the state owes taxpayers an additional $244.7 million in refunds. An adverse decision could empty bank balances and place the district in a crisis situation.

In the meantime, work is near completion on the new career center, and school officials are scrambling to be sure enough money is on hand to pay contractors when they turn over keys to the building next month.

"We don't want to get to the point in the spring where we can't pay the bills or meet salary demands," Steska said. "It's very serious, and we're watching the lawsuits very closely."

Ideas in his folder range from savings of mere pennies -- like having custodians launder their own mop heads rather than sending them to a cleaning service -- to more substantial amounts that would require reducing personnel.

Many of the ideas are simple. For example, Central High School staff must return payroll envelopes monthly to cut back on supply purchases. Kitchen and custodial employees across the district are instructed not to wash half loads in dishwashers or washing machines.

School officials say whether it's recycling printer ink cartridges, turning off lights when rooms are empty, or printing copies on both sides of paper when possible, everything helps if staff members get more use out of equipment and supplies.

Jefferson Elementary School principal Mark Cook said some of the measures sound mundane but are financially meaningful.

"We've got a box in our teacher workroom where our teachers put things they want laminated," he said. "By laminating lots of little things at one time instead of separately, you save a lot of waste."

Steska said custodial and maintenance staff are doing more repair and renovation work in-house instead of contracting it out. And by standardizing equipment such as light fixtures, the district can purchase one type of light bulbs in bulk instead of buying several different types of more expensive bulbs, he said.

Staff reduction

But the biggest expense to the district, as with most businesses, is in salaries, so there likely will be some savings related to staff reduction when hirings for the next year begin. Steska said building principals already have been told they must justify hiring staff to fill positions vacated due to retirement or resignation.

"We'll probably see class sizes increase a little, even though that's not the best situation," he said. "Hopefully, that won't be a long-term thing."

Not all the cost-saving measures submitted have been winners. Some committees submitted past cost-saving measures as reminders of what didn't work in the past. For example, a decision several years ago to eliminate a high school assistant principal position was reversed after disciplinary problems increased at the school. And staff said major programming cuts are never a good idea.

Steska said what is most important is that staff be conscious of the need to reduce spending.

"It's not only the real savings, it's the mentality we're cultivating," he said. "We want everyone thinking that we can cut costs and be prudent with how we spend our tax dollars."