GROWING PAINS WORRYING JACKSON SCHOOL SYSTEM

JACKSON, Mo. -- The 20-classroom addition at R.O. Hawkins Junior High may not have enough teachers to fill it if Jackson School District's budget situation doesn't improve.

Superintendent Ron Anderson said the financial strain that would have been eased by a tax increase won't go away, but don't look for a tax issue to re-appear on the November ballot. The district is trying to regroup from the Aug. 7 loss on a 25-cent per $100 assessed valuation ballot issue.

The money was to cover increases in teachers' salaries, maintenance costs for the R.O. Hawkins addition and other items.

Bids for the addition are due Aug. 30, and Anderson expects workers to be on the job by the end of September or early October. That means construction will begin while students are in school.

The timing couldn't be helped, he said.

"As soon as voters gave us the green light last November, we got started," he said.

By the time plans were prepared, nine months had passed. He said the time lapse isn't unusual, and a summer start was impossible.

But the delay helped cost Jackson the last ballot issue, some say.

It took the district three tries last year to pass a $6 million bond issue for work on R.O. Hawkins. It increased the debt-service levy by 10 cents, a necessary cost, district officials said, to relieve desperate crowding at the school.

But some who voted yes were dismayed by the lack of progress on the project and that, less than a year later, the district was asking for more money.

"If people are willing to spend their money, they want to see results," said Mark Dambach, 45, who has two children in Jackson High School this year. "The board was saying, We need the classrooms desperately,' they barely passed that sucker and then nothing. No progress."

Dambach said he always votes for school tax increases as a matter of principle, but the handling of the last one gave him pause.

"When people like me are starting to doubt, what's happening with all the other people who aren't like me?" he said.

But there was progress on the project last week. Architect John Dudley discussed the plans with potential contractors at a pre-bid meeting Thursday.

The district is looking at a range of 12 to 18 months before completion.

Taxing failures

Overcrowded classrooms, cramped hallways and projected growth for the future prompted district officials to plan the addition to the junior high. Jackson enrollment typically increases about 3 percent per year, although last year it was up only 1.6 percent.

Jackson schools first asked for a tax increase of 15 cents per $100 for its $11 million bond issue in April 2000. It was intended to support construction of a new elementary school, an addition and renovations the junior high and some technology upgrades. It failed.

In August 2000, the district tried again with a $6 million bond proposal. Although it received majority approval, it fell about 300 votes short of the four-sevenths supermajority required.

Undaunted, Jackson school officials began a massive public education campaign, including offering financial statements, public debates and tours of the junior high.

Then they put it on the November ballot. Results from the final precinct showed a vote of 6,718, or 57.3 percent, yes to 5,006 no.

Higher bills

With the junior high's new addition, Anderson anticipates higher utility bills from heating and cooling as well as higher bills from maintenance, all of which will add to operating costs.

But it's the additional teachers he plans to hire that won't be possible until a tax increase is in place.

"First you have to build the space, then you have to put the staff in there to do the job," Anderson said.

The district continues to grow and, with the additional students, more teachers have to be hired.

Eight teachers were added last year, and eight more the year before that. Non-certified employees like bus drivers, kitchen employees and custodial staff have increased as well.

The elementary schools are full and the district is assessing what will be needed 10 years from now.

But for now, other capital-improvement projects are being limited to maintenance. A new roof here, air conditioning there, fixing a sidewalk someplace else.

"It's like owning a house," Anderson said, "There's always something to fix."