NIXON TELLS YOUTHS TO GAIN FROM OPPORTUNITY

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon told students at Cape Girardeau's Alternative Education Center Friday that they should make the most of their second chance to get an education.

"In this country, you don't get that many second or third chances," said Nixon.

Nixon arrived at the school about 2:30 p.m., about a half hour later than scheduled. About 20 students and several school officials gathered in front of the center to hear Nixon's remarks.

The visit was the second on Nixon's statewide tour of alternative schools.

Nixon is running for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Christopher "Kit" Bond. But Nixon refused to discuss the Senate race, telling a reporter that he was making the trip solely in his role as attorney general.

Alternative schools provide schooling for students who have been kicked out of school or dropped out. They are funded in part by the Safe Schools Act of 1996.

"Five years ago programs like this didn't exist," Nixon said.

He said the schools are pilot projects. There are alternative schools in more than 40 communities in the state, he said.

Some are housed in shopping malls. Cape Girardeau's is housed in the Civic Center. It serves about 40 students.

The state has earmarked $10 million for alternative schools. Each school can receive up to three years of grant money.

Cape Girardeau's Alternative School is in its second year. It received a $100,000 grant the first year and $50,000 this year.

Next year it could receive $25,000, said Sheldon Tyler, who directs the alternative school.

Tyler said the grant money form the Safe Schools Act provides about a third of the revenue needed to operate the school. The rest comes from the Missouri Division of Youth Services.

Nixon said future funding for alternative schools rests with the Legislature.

Some lawmakers, he said, don't want to continue to fund such schools. "The money is running out," Nixon said.

"Programs like this will live or die by what you do," he told the students. "You all are pioneers here."

He said the students should make the most of their opportunities.

The alternative is a life of crime that could land them in jail, he said.

The number of prison inmates in Missouri has climbed from 12,000 to 25,000 in the past five years, Nixon said. That has occurred largely because of tougher sentences, he said.

"We want you to succeed worse than anything you can imagine," Nixon told the students. "Life is not complicated if you work hard and play by the rules," said Nixon.