JACKSON SCHOOL ISSUES FAIL A SECOND TIME

JACKSON, Mo. -- For the second time this year, voters have rejected requests for additional funding for the Jackson School District.

Voters said no to the district's proposed $6 million bond issue by a vote of 2,712 to 2,228, or 45.10 percent against the measure. A four-sevenths majority, about 57 percent, was needed to pass the bond issue.

The proposal would have funded an addition and renovations to R.O. Hawkins Junior High School and new technology equipment throughout the district.

Nearly 55 percent of voters also defeated the district's proposed 40-cent increase to the operating tax levy in a 2,697-2,172 decision. If approved, the measure would have increased the operating levy to provide additional funding for teachers' salaries and other district expenses A simple majority was needed for passage.

This marked the second rejection of funding proposals for the district this year. In April, a similar operating tax levy increase was rejected by 60 percent of participating voters and a bond proposal that also included a new elementary school was defeated by 50 percent of voters.

The four failed proposals were the first to be rejected since 1992, when voters rejected a 35-cent tax levy increase. Prior to this year, Jackson voters had passed six of seven funding proposals over a 16-year period.

"I would have thought worst-case scenario the addition to the school would have passed and the levy would not have," said Jack Litzelfelner Jr., who chaired the Keeping Jackson Schools First committee that campaigned for passage of the measures. "For both of them to not happen just shocks me."

Superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson and Board of Education President Dr. T. Wayne Lewis were among some 20 people waiting at the Cape Girardeau County Administration Building in Jackson as election returns on the measures were posted. Low approval early on signaled the operating tax levy was not likely to pass, but close tallies for the bond issue kept supporters hopeful until votes from the final precinct were counted.

"It's better than last time obviously, but a supermajority is very difficult to pass," said Anderson of the 57.14 percent approval needed for the bond issue. "I think it shows that what's been going on in the last few months is positive, but we just have some more work to do."

Lewis said rejection of the tax increase for operating funds means the district also won't realize the corresponding increase in state funding. Increased class sizes, continued limitations in technology and fewer purchases of new equipment and supplies will be the result of the failed proposals, he said.

"The biggest thing is what kids will be missing because of increased class size, older textbooks, lacking computer technology," Lewis said. "It'll just be a bigger load for all teachers and administrators."

The district won't be dissolved due to a lack in funding, but there will likely be budget cuts to make ends meet, Lewis said.

"We're running short of funds and we will not be able to run out of funds, so we'll just have to make some cuts where they have to be," he said. "Hopefully, the people will somewhere along the line come up with some help."

Litzelfelner said he hopes the district will try again for passage of the measures. The issues that necessitated the proposals are not going away, and to ignore them is not fair to students, he said.

Said Litzelfelner, "The only thing I can think of is we didn't do a good enough job explaining what the issues were. To me it doesn't seem right that we have to continuously cut corners to educate our students."