Should Dist. 300 taxpayers pay more?
Du Quoin Community Unit District 300 Supt. Dr. Gary Kelly told his board of education Tuesday night that schools are criticized for what they spend and never appreciated for what they save.
It's true.
With that said, the board Tuesday discussed, then tabled until the December meeting, whether it should ask district taxpayers for more money in 2016 than it got in 2015.
In the past three years the district has largely made up for what it has lost in state aid by replacing less than half of the teachers who have retired. That can't go on.
By, the same token, the fact anyone would bring to the board a proposal to build new girls' softball pitching bullpens and a storage building at a cost of $51,000 and give $9,000 of that to the architect for "designing" it shows the district's spending appetite is alive and well. It's not a case of discriminating against girls' athletics in a very posh athletic complex. It's a case of taxpayers have had it and want all levels of government to stop spending.
"We're into deficit reduction," said Mark Woodside. "They played this year just fine (without them)," said board member Paul Brock. "This is bad timing to bring this sort of thing up," Brock continued.
As the board labors over again going to local real estate owners for higher taxes here are some things to consider:
The district HAS lost nearly $3.5 million in state aid in the last three years and had done a good job of coping.
The board faces a new multi-year teachers contract and has to make the tough decision of running Dist. 300 as a business and freezing wages or catering to pay hikes to "get along."
The latest state "report card" shows the mean (average) teaching salary in District 300 of about $52,000 plus benefits and retirement. That number comes from taking total salary expenditures and dividing it by the 101 staff members in the report. That compares to a statewide average of a little over $62,000. Sixteen staff members in District 300 made between $60,000 and $70,000 in 2014.
Three administrators made over $90,000 a year in 2014 and two years ago the board voted a multi-year contract for Supt Gary Kelly long before his existing contracdt expired.
More of the district's spending has gone from spending out of budget line items to spending out of grants and fundraisers for athletics and extra-curriculars. That shows good faith in trying to find other revenue streams.
There are some extraordinary costs. Dr. Kelly said two students in the district with special needs are costing over $50,000 each.
But there are obsessions in the district. The 2014 treasurer's report shows the district had $1,548,166 in annual debt service and last year levied $1,134,980 against local real estate to take care of debt. Those taxpayer monies are on top of the half-cent local sales tax being collected to pay off the local share of the debt on the new high school.
Furthermore, only when the issue was forced by Mayor Guy Alongi last month did the district remember its $585,000 debt to the city for infrastructure repairs made by the city at the time the new high school was built.
On Tuesday, the board approved a new intergovernmental agreement drafted by District 300 attorney Jerry Smith and Du Quoin legal consultant Rhett Barke that provides for the school district to make a $39,029.06 payment to the city in December and another $39,029.06 payment next June, then annual payments in the same amount until the $585,000 debt is repaid.
The school district has received the first of funds from a 1 percent facilties sales tax which should generate $650,000 a year for capital improvements, half of which can also be applied to debt service. More taxpayer money. And, while the district makes the case the money can only be used in these two ways, there are loopholes in the law that will allow schools to cover some of their maintenance costs with these funds.
In total, District 300 already gets approximately 70 percent of every tax dollar in its geography.
But, the real pressure on the board not to raise the levy comes from its own student demographics and other number that are readily available. They mirror a bad, inelastic economy that is not growing.
The district says that 56 percent of middle school students qualify for free or reduced meals. Seventy percent of elementary students come from low income families.
The state's SNAP program (food stamps) shows that 29.5 percent of Perry County families rely on food stamps. September unemployment was 6.5 percent, but labor analysts told the newspaper Wednesday the "real" jobless number is more like 11 percent because many have exhausted their benefits and dropped out of the statistics.
Social security recipients will get no cost of living increase next year based on the inflation index which indicates that lower gasoline prices are giving senior citizens (and all of us) a break.
Board member Luke Davison made a point Tuesday that the state's budget mess is impacting families. No pay hikes in many cases. No pay checks at all in other cases because of layoffs. Thousands of businesses who do business with the state aren't even being paid. That affects families.
District 300 residents have seen price hikes in everything from their water bills and other utilities to their New Wave cable television bills to their health insurance costs.
District 300 staff members must decide whether they are owed pay increases for doing a great job or should feel blessed by having jobs at all.
In closing, some comments from Tuesday's meeting.
Board member Paul Brock: "You lose your public credibility (when you keep raising taxes)."
Board president Larry Valier: "I wish I knew what to do."
Board member Luke Davison: "State employees are affected by NOT getting pay raises while we raise taxes."
Superintendent Dr. Gary Kelly: "Any time you raise taxes it is disparaging. I think our staff has done everything they can."
Board member Dennis Cole said he was opposed to an increase.
The night's discussion ended with the board asking the superintendent to present options at the next meeting.