Russellville considering an increased operating levy

RUSSELLVILLE, Mo. - The Cole County R-1 school board approved presenting a 50-cent increase to the operating levy to voters on the April 4 ballot.

"We've had a lot of questions and concerns with the budget," Superintendent Perry Gorrell said. "We need to look at what's ahead of us."

Before the final vote, board members reviewed alternatives to raising the levy.

Those included moving the seventh- and eighth-grade students to the high school, decreasing staff, eliminating bus routes, ending the Parents as Teachers program, limiting the preschool to Title 1, removing the ITV courses, losing the school resource officer, capping health insurance costs and freezing teacher salaries.

Competitive pay, maintained facilities and eliminating the deficit spending were the main priorities.

However, when asked which programs should not be lost, bus routes, early childhood programs and keeping junior high students in the current building also proved to be important.

In addition to the operating levy increase, voters also will be asked in April to continue the existing bond. If that separate issue passes, facilities and technology will see needed improvements, Gorrell said.

Teachers' salaries were the primary concern.

In the Show-Me Conference, only Chamois has a lower base pay and Linn is equal, Gorrell said. Referring to Missouri School Boards' Association data, Russellville is ranked 47th of 53 schools in the central region for starting teacher pay.

Raising the salary schedule by $500 to the base adds approximately $30,000 to the annual budget. However, Gorrell emphasized the board needs to consider where they want the school to be in the future.

Another currently unbudgeted need will be resources, specifically textbooks, which may cost up to $50,000 a year, the superintendent said.

Board President Debbie Malzner said freezing salaries was not an option, but neither was continuing to deficit spend.

If the 50-cent operating levy is approved, the school would receive a maximum infusion of $265,000. However, Gorrell was clear the board does not have to set the levy at the full amount if it were not needed, nor would the school use it to build up a balance.

This is the third year the school has operated at a deficit. This year it is operating at about an $88,000 deficit. If enrollment increased by 1.5 percent, that would add $50,000, and assessed valuations have been increasing, Gorrell noted as potential positives.

Eliminating one more bus route would save the district approximately $30,000 annually. However, some students already are on a bus one way for nearly an hour.

Also, Gorrell is budgeting for health insurance, which the district pays 100 percent of for employees, to rise by up to 10 percent in the next year. With recent state government cuts, more could come in the future.

"There's a lot we don't know," board member Jamie Sullivan said.

An organizational meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 9 in the high school library to educate community leaders on the necessity of the operating levy increase.

A town hall meeting to educate the general public will begin at 6:30 p.m. March 7 in the elementary cafeteria.

The board also approved the addition of the Missouri Options Program to its graduation options. The strict state program would be available to a select few students who are age 17 and have met all other state requirements for graduation. The program would help them to earn a diploma when otherwise they might drop out.

Administrators and board members were pleased the Missouri State High School Activities Association had recommended the Russellville facilities to host the 2017 Class 2 sectional track meet, and participating schools voted for the Class 1 district track meet for 2017 and 2018 be held there.

In other business, the board:

Learned teachers are developing individual curriculum at all levels.

Heard from Elementary Principal Tina Kaufman that the new drop-off procedures are working well.

Learned disciplinary reports are down by more than half compared to recent years at the high school.