School funding search is good government

When Perry County voters passed a 50-cent school tax increase in November, it was by no means a financial windfall. That school district's tax remains below Jackson's and well below Cape Girardeau's.

Some seem to forget that Perry County had released two lists of cuts: one with educational programs and positions that would go whether the tax increase passed or not and a second list of programs that would go only if the tax didn't pass.

The second list included extracurricular programs like football, drama and band. It is the shocking one that made voters sit up and listen, passing the tax increase after defeating similar measures 12 times since 1974.

But that first list had some noteworthy cuts as well: five jobs, a power-engine class and, perhaps most strikingly, the alternative school.

That last one is the sole item the district now is clearly struggling to save, even though the tax increase didn't cover the $27,606 it will take to keep it going.

Officials are looking for government grants and money from other districts being asked to send their alternative school students to Perryville.

To clarify, an alternative school is the last alternative to dropping out. To say students in such schools didn't do well in regular classroom settings is an understatement.

They were failing. Some of them were disruptive, keeping their classmates from learning, too. Others didn't show up because they felt uncomfortable. Some did show up but just sat there, hour after hour of education passing them by.

There wasn't enough time for teachers to stop everything and deal with them.

Alternative schools provide more one-on-one attention. In Perry County's, for instance, there are 18 students but two teachers. There isn't the structure of a regular school, which some students find stifling.

Students in Perry County report improvements since enrolling in the alternative school. One teen who planned to drop out now is selecting a university. Another student failing every class raised her grades to D's and C's after a few months.

Some voters might label Perry County's search for a way to keep the school open misleading because it was on that first list of cuts.

Yes, it would have been better to find other sources of funding -- such as grants and cooperation with other districts -- before putting the alternative school on the first list of cuts and releasing that list to the public.

But the point is that the district is doing the right thing now. Officials' search for funding is an example of good government. Instead of turning to the people for more money, they are looking for some other way to fill a need.

And for that, they should be thanked instead of criticized.