Jackson school district not taking any chances with uncertainty

Editor's Note: This story corrects a story which appeared on Page 4 in the Wednesday edition. The Southeast Missourian regrets the error.

By Heather Kronmueller ~ Southeast Missourian

JACKSON, Mo. -- The Jackson School District hoped it would be able to hire a dozen additional teachers and reduce class sizes for the 2002-03 school year, but because of budget constraints with uncertain state funding it won't be possible.

The Jackson School District Board of Education passed a tentative budget Tuesday with expenditures of $31.9 million, which include a 3 to 3.5 percent average pay increase for teachers, but only enough money to hire one to two additional teachers.

The budget also allows for the district to end the 2002-03 school year with 6.42 percent in its reserves.

Districts with reserve balances below 3 percent are considered financially distressed by the state.

In 1998, when South Elementary opened, the district hired 27 additional teachers and each year since, the district has hired eight additional teachers.

Superintendent Ron Anderson said the district's enrollment could rise at least 1 percent this fall, but changes to the funding formula by the state legislature mean districts won't get as much money from the state as they expected.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has cautioned districts to be conservative because of the uncertainty of state payments.

That means class sizes, which are as large as 32 students in some middle school classrooms, won't get any smaller next year.

Maintaining staffing levels

"We would have liked to hire about 10 to 15 more teachers for the core areas -- math, science, social studies and communication arts -- at the middle school and junior high levels but we can't," Anderson said. "We need to take care of the teachers we have. We don't want to penalize them."

Anderson said the starting salary for new teachers will be $27,000 next year, which is up from $25,500 last year. He said increases are found throughout the teacher's salary schedule.

The raise was made to stay competitive with districts in larger metropolitan areas like St. Louis and Kansas City, Anderson said.

He said the district wants to keep its current teachers and attract new ones because 20 percent of the teachers are expected to retire within the next five years.

The tentative budget also includes more than $5 million for expenditures of capital projects.

Assistant superintendent for finance, Jim Welker, said as much as half of that amount could be used for completion of 22 additional classrooms and other renovations at R.O. Hawkins Junior High School.

The budget includes $30,000 to replace a computer lab at the high school, $54,000 for track repairs at the junior high and $44,000 to purchase new equipment for the industrial arts shop at the high school.

Other capital projects include $32,000 for repairs to two sections of the roof at the junior high, $82,500 for repairs on the A Building roof at the high school and $360,000 to replace HVAC systems at West Lane Elementary and the board office.

The final budget will be presented to the board at a later date.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128