Loss of students, money make school weigh options
, Publisher/Editor
10-13-2009
A clear-eyed assessment on Stet R-XV School from Superintendent and Principal Thomas Challender “was not a happy briefing,” as he told the crowd of 250 Saturday night in a town hall-style meeting, “but you need to know what we’re dealing with.”What school officials and its school board are facing is a depletion of funds – and more importantly, a shortage of students.
Most of Stet’s $1.2 million annual budget for the 80-student school goes toward teacher salaries, benefits and retirement for their lean educating core of 18 full-time educators, along with utilities, insurance and transportation. What is left is around $71,000 for what Challender deemed “quality education,” meaning purchases of technology, textbooks, library purchases, building upgrades and maintenance.
“This is the absolute best case (scenario) of $71,000. It doesn’t go far, and right now we’re running in the hole. And in the future it doesn’t get much better,” Challender said.
Stet’s decline in students is also a loss of state dollars, which is currently around $800 per student.
“Number 1: We need more students. With Proposition C money at 87 students, we received $870 dollars at the start (of the 2008-09 school year); then it went down to $818 with 80 students and now to $800. Two years ago, we received $98,000, last year $79,000 and this year we’re going to receive $64,000. The drop is that significant.”
“How do we get students, ladies and gentlemen? I’m not going to go there,” Challender said to laughs in the crowd. He then went back to point: “There’s not much industry to bring more in.”
With a 27 percent loss of students in the past three years, and an additional 14 percent predicted loss of students for the 2010-11 school year, Challender presented three courses of action for the school district. Later in the discussions, the superintendent told the crowd it would take around 95 students for the district to financially break even.
To remain as a K-12 school, Challender said the district would need to raise or borrow an additional $132,000 to remain solvent for the 2010-11 school year to cover expenses. The district would also have to cut employee benefits, he said, to remain solvent. Challender also said Stet’s mill levy would have to raised to $6 per $100 assessed value on property. It currently is at $5.1 – one of the highest in the state.
“If you want to secure Stet’s future … hold the line on everything we spend. It can be done. We need to tighten our belts and do it,” Challender said to a mostly muted crowd at this point of the town-hall meeting.
“Transportation: I cannot direct you to drive your kids here,” he said, adding that “if I could cut out transportation or you coordinate with your neighbor to carpool, it would save us $65,000 to $70,000 (a year). The buses are not full.”
Challender also told the crowd the school would have no money to start the 2011-12 school year.
A K-8th grade option would cut some core teachers, such as language arts and vo-ag. By Challender’s calculations, much of those savings would go toward high school tuition – ranging from $3,000 to $7,600 – of 27 students attending a neighboring school plus transportation costs. In this model, Challender said the district would be $35,000 in the red and not have the capitol to start the 2011-12 year.
The only option that Challender presented which kept the Stet school solvent was converting to a K-6 school; however, much depends on tuition costs of neighboring schools. Challender cited Norborne as the most affordable at $3,000 per student annually. In his chart, 38 students would be sent to Norborne for a cost of $114,000 annually and $35,000 a year for transportation of those students. The K-6 plan would only employ four full-time and two part-time elementary teachers. Challender said the district would be left with $166,000 in its accounts to open the 2011-12 school year.
A school patron in the crowd asked if students had other options than Norborne. Challender said the district is required to provide bus service to only one school. Those wanting to go elsewhere would be at their cost. He added that Norborne’s tuition rate is governed by the board of education, and believes it would stay at that rate for two to three years. Public school tuition is not regulated by the state of Missouri.
“If we go bankrupt, DESE (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) will not pay our bills. They would take control,” Challender said. He added he will find out today if the Stet school district could be split up, so students could attend Polo, Braymer or Norborne by their choice.
Nearly all spoke of their love of the school – a hub of the community. Some school patrons – who noted the school’s ongoing struggle to stay viable – voiced their opinion: It’s now time to consider what is best for their children’s education.
“The future of the school district shouldn’t look at the past. I don’t think our kids are given the technology that they need. We’ve got a music teacher teaching a computer class, but that’s not what they need. Stripping it down, just to keep it here? If you can’t do it right, we need to look at other options,” said Carrie Mansur, who introduced herself as a Stet grad as were her parents and grandparents. Mansur has two children in the school.
Others in the crowd objected, asking if the community has given up the fight to save their school.
“I don’t think the money is the biggest issue. I think we can raise $250,000 (needed to operate a school year). But school is about academics first. It’s not that we don’t have money; we don’t have kids,” said Sherrie Finlay, an 18-year resident with a seventh grade student at Stet. “Will we have a senior class of one?” she asks, and when Challender signaled four students to her, “O.K., four kids and only three couples at a barn warming dance who can actually attend.”
The crowd went quiet, until another resident broke the silence.
“I’m hearing a lot of silence. We’re going to have come to a conclusion. It is what it is,” said resident Glenn Waters.
Others questioned the district’s effort in obtaining grant money, such as playground equipment, to defray expenses..
Board member Larry Hall responded that the superintendent and staff are focusing their energy on passing school accreditation by the state, which has a March deadline.
Others asked how many home-schooled and out-of-district children there are in the district. Challender said about 22 students. Discussion about sports teams and transportation also was discussed. Hall added this: “It’ll be virtually impossible to field a softball or baseball team, or to have a competitive basketball team after this year’s senior class graduates.”
“They’re all losing kids. They’re all losing funding. We’ve got to make the hard, right decision. Hardin, Norborne and us should get together; otherwise we’ll fall to the wayside,” Waters said.
“If those are the options – K-6 or K-8 – I’d rather see it closed down,” said Nathan Gibson, a 2001 Stet grad and father of a pre-kindergartener.
Challender and school board members asked for ideas to help shape the fate of the school. Stet’s regular monthly school board meeting is Wednesday
Photo: About 250 patrons and students of Stet schools filled the school’s gym Saturday night to hear of the financial situation and student decline at the school. (Photo by Bob Lauck/for The Daily News)
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