Word: district
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...fact, the Webster Groves public schools are facing a $1.2 million deficit in their $30 million annual operating budget, 80% of which goes to salaries and benefits. And the district faces millions of dollars in deferred repairs on the high school building, which dates from 1907. A close inspection of Webster Groves beyond its wealthiest avenues reveals the reasons for the deficit. To the north and south are neighborhoods of modest, well-kept homes that sell for less than $200,000 and bring in lower tax revenues. In short supply anywhere in town are land parcels given over to commercial...
...April for approval to borrow some $10 million, by issuing new bonds, to repair leaky roofs and antiquated heating systems. But he also wants to collect more than 50[cents] per $100 valuation in new tax levies, most of which would go to raise the pay of the district's 292 teachers...
Webster Groves' taxes, which pay three-quarters of the school's budget, are not that out of line with those of neighboring districts like Kirkwood or Clayton. (A 58-year-old, 5-bedroom home that sold recently for $289,000 has an annual property tax of $2,914.) But because of the community's historic resistance to commercial development, and thus the limited options for raising new revenues, the board has little choice but to count on the district's voters to see them through to fiscal equilibrium...
That is becoming tougher and tougher to do, acknowledge Wright and others close to the school-financing issue. Caught in the nationwide movement to induce equity in school funding (state aid is capped at 1992-93 levels), the district is also hampered because Missouri requires a supermajority 4-out-of-7 vote on all school bond proposals. Then there are the unfunded government mandates, like the Americans with Disabilities Act, which forced Webster Groves to spend more than $1 million in the past three years on compliance...
...first time he invited the kids to a vacant field, the police showed up to investigate; Yates had forgotten to tell them that he'd be there. Now he limits his excursions to school-district property. Not all the nearly 60 kids here are his students. His outings are not only fun; they are an excuse to stay out late. (Those in his classes must bring written permission from their parents to get the extra-credit points.) Nicole Lopez, a 16-year-old junior who has Yates for fifth period, listens to his every word. "He does what no other...