SCHOOL CUTS AUTHORIZED; BOARD SLASHES $611,000 FROM NEXT BUDGET

In an effort to improve school district finances in the coming year, the Cape Girardeau Board of Education Monday night reduced and eliminated expenditures and froze salaries.

In all, $611,000 in budget reductions will become effective July 1, the start of the next fiscal year. The cuts are necessary because the school district has been spending more money than it has taken in since the 1995-96 school year, and the result is a fund balance that is lower than the state recommends.

Since March, board members have been reviewing financial information to determine ways to cut about $1 million in spending from the next budget. An estimated $200,000 in savings from an early retirement incentive was approved earlier this year, and a $500,000 increase is expected in local revenue to the school district next year.

"We've talked about it so long I think we were at a point where decisions needed to be made," said superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent. "We have a short-term solution that allows us to get to zero. Certainly there were no long-term solutions approved tonight."

Reductions adopted by the board affected maintenance and repair expenditures and administrative travel expenses. Eliminated from next year's budget were incentive grants requiring matching funds from the district, administrative fees for an employee cafeteria payment plan, and purchase of new textbooks using local funds.

Other savings also are possible by not filling employee positions left open from retirements or resignations. At least five teaching positions will not be filled next year, as well as the technology coordinator position left vacant since Chris Cook resigned in March.

In addition, board members voted to withhold raises and freeze salaries for district employees next year. Teachers and other employees generally receive annual pay increases according to a schedule based on their years of service and educational advancement. Raises, when given, are allocated in addition to moves up the salary schedule.

Teachers attending the meeting said they were disappointed in the board's decision. The recommendations approved were almost identical to ones presented by administrators early in the year, they said.

Teacher Neil Casey said the reductions will result in a poorer quality of education for students, who will be placed in classes with more students and fewer experienced teachers.

"We have tremendous incentive for good teachers to leave the district or for good teachers not to enter the district," he said. "Our community and our leadership have permitted Cape Girardeau schools to go into a state of decline. If our schools are in a state of decline, our city is in a state of decline."

Budget reductions

These reductions were authorized to balance the Cape Girardeau School District's budget for fiscal year 1999:

-- Elimination of matching incentive grants $125,000

-- Elimination of cafeteria plan fees $ 12,000

-- Reduction of maintenance and repair budget $ 25,000

-- Elimination of local expenditure for textbooks $ 50,000

-- Reduction of district travel $ 7,000

-- Savings from technology coordinator $ 35,000

-- Savings from retirement incentive $207,000

-- Savings from class size increase $150,000

TOTAL $611,000