The Cape Girardeau Board of Education remains in negotiation on property that would become home to the district's proposed new vocational-technical and high school.

The board met in closed session to discuss purchasing property during its regular Monday meeting, but no decision was made.

Board president Bob Fox said the school board wants to be prudent in its selection of property and in the price it pays. "We have to be extra careful when we are spending taxpayer dollars," Fox said.

The board is looking for about 80 acres of land for the proposed two-school campus.

Funding for construction of a vocational-technical school is part of a bond issue Cape Girardeau voters will decide April 1. Sale of $14 million in bonds would also fund construction of a new elementary school. The elementary school would be built at Sprigg and Bertling, where the school district already owns property.

On the ballot, voters will consider two funding measures. The $14 million bond issue would raise the tax levy 30 cents. A waiver of the Proposition C rollback would raise taxes 39 cents.

In addition to new construction, the plan calls for renovations at school buildings and an addition at Jefferson Elementary School.

A second phase of the district's long-range plan, tentatively scheduled for 1999, would include a second bond issue and construction of a new high school.