ALTENBURG -- In times of economic trouble for schools across the state, tiny Altenburg Public School is paying cash for a new building addition.

Superintendent Richard Hoffman said the 77-student district has been saving money for the past six years to build the new structure.

"We have managed to save our money," Hoffman said. "We will be paying for the building in cash."

The addition is expected to cost about $120,000.

At the Board of Education meeting Thursday, the board selected ~architect Anthony Sebek of Cape Girardeau to design the building. Bids are expected to be let in March and Hoffman said the building should be completed by August.

"Given the economic situation, this is an ideal time to be building," he said. "There has been a lot of interest on the part of contractors and we expect bids to very competitive."

He expects the addition will be a metal building. "It's nothing fancy," he said. "But the building is just a tool. Internally, we are looking at a more traditional type of design."

Hoffman admits Altenburg is atypical of small rural districts in the state. Many are struggling with dropping enrollment and decreasing income.

Altenburg's enrollment has been growing at a rate of 5 to 10 percent a year. In 1988, for example, the school had 57 students. It now has 77.

"Really, that is not significant growth," he said. "But in rural areas, the trend has been to no growth if not some population loss."

He expects enrollment at Altenburg to keep increasing.

"We anticipate this area, situated between Perryville and its expansion and Cape Girardeau and Jackson and their expansions, will continue to grow.

"People find this area really attractive. It's a rural setting with reasonable property prices.

"We want to make sure we're ready to provide the kind of education people want," he said. "That's why this facility is very essential."

The district is home to two large industries, East Perry Lumber and Timber Exports, which help to maintain a solid tax base.

Altenburg is also home to a large parochial school system, which Hoffman said is beneficial to the public schools. "A good portion of students in this area attend their facilities, keeping us from adding additional costs."

Things look good for Altenburg, but Hoffman said the district has been hit by state budget cuts. The district has a budget of $502,000 this year, but anticipates receiving only $490,000. Some cuts will be made to bring this year's budget close to a break-even point.

The red-brick building with its bell tower is the main portion of the school. As the district grew, a recreation facility was built adjacent to the building. The school has utilized a trailer for classroom space for the past 12 years.

"We're going to be adding an additional 4,200 square feet of structure to house two classrooms, restrooms, an office and workroom," Hoffman said.

The addition will house classes for students in grades four through eight. "This will allow us to begin pulling away the older students and giving them a little different program than the younger students."

Because the district is so small, grade levels are combined. The school has 17 kindergarteners; first, second and third grade are combined in one class of 22 students; fourth and fifth grade is combined with 16 students; sixth, seventh and eighth grades are combined with a total of 22 students.

The rooms planned for the new structure are unlike most classrooms, Hoffman said. The rooms are large, about 1,200 square feet. Each has two monitors with satellite, video and cable hook-ups. Each classroom has its own sink and work area.

"It's more of a self-contained area that we have designed for the kind of program we want to offer."

Hoffman is sure that no one will question using space in the new building for the school's office.

"Our office is not much larger than most people's closet," Hoffman explained. "We have continued to add shelving and have begun to computerize. We ran out of space a while back. I don't think anyone who has seen our office would begrudge us the space."

The addition will also provide a teacher work area. "We are using more and more videos and support materials and our teachers need a place to store and prepare these materials."

He said the older building will not be remodeled, but the vacated classroom will be used differently.

"We will turn the classroom into an art, music and science center," said Hoffman. "All our art, music and science lab classes will be taught in this room. It will allow us to equip the room with specialized kinds of materials and to use them more efficiently."

The 12-year-old trailer will remain on site also. Part of the trailer will be used as an office for the district's parent educator, who coordinates the Parents as Teachers program. The other side will be used for storage.

Hoffman said it's possible that the trailer space will be needed for classrooms in the future if enrollment continues to grow.

"We really began looking at this in terms of long-range planning eight years ago," Hoffman said. "We do a five-year plan then update it every two years."

He said about six years ago, the number of high school students in the district decreased. The district saved money in tuition.

The district began saving that money and other money to build up its savings.

"We wanted to acquire what we thought was a safe amount of reserve," Hoffman said. "We reached that point last year."

"We're very excited about this. We've been planning for it and finally we're to the point that it's going to be a reality.

"It will allow us to do some things we feel very strongly about how we educate our children in a small elementary district."