Ladue Schools Begin Planning for Tax Hike Proposal

Ladue school district officials have begun planning for what may become a property tax increase proposal on the April, 2012 ballot. The proposal would be for a hike in the district’s operating tax levy set by district voters in 1993.

During a April 25 meeting of the Board of Education, Superintendent Marsha Chappelow said she would begin “assumptions” planning to determine student needs and the level of increased financial support the district would require, and Jason L. Buckner, the district’s assistant superintendent for business and finance, urged the board to propose an increase in the district’s operating tax ceiling, now $2.75 per $100 of assessed valuation.

Board member Ken Smith discussed placing a tax increase initiative on the ballot next April and said the twelve months before then would be needed to conduct a supporting public campaign.

“We need to decide pretty quickly when we are going to put this on the ballot,” said Smith.

After hearing a report of statewide school taxing policies and other information on how districts tax themselves, the board discussed whether it should ask voters for a tax rate just high enough to meet needs anticipated over the next few years or whether it should seek a higher tax rate ceiling which would grant the board authority each year to set a property tax rate at or below that ceiling.

Smith said that the board should seek sufficient operating funds to balance the district’s budget over each of the next five years. Buckner responded that he agrees with “a five-year plan” but added that, “We need a tax rate ceiling.”

New board director Andy Bresler questioned whether voters would approve a tax rate ceiling that is actually higher than the district might need.

“I’m not sure that we are better off with a tax rate ceiling,” said Bresler. “Some of the public will assume the worst of that.”

Buckner said that only a higher tax ceiling would give the district long-term flexibility to meet needs year in and year out. Many districts, he added, do just that.

“It is better to build that (voter) trust and get that ceiling,” said Buckner, who also suggested that the district survey voters on their attitudes.

Buckner distributed to the board and to the public in attendance various documents detailing student enrollment projections through 2015, tax rates in other St. Louis County school districts, a 60-year history of voter responses to proposed Ladue schools bond issues and tax levies, and other information that could be used during a voter education campaign.

For much of the last year, the district has been struggling with looming operating budget deficits that the school board says are due to spiking student enrollment and falling or flat property tax income. In recent weeks, the board has plugged a multimillion budget gap by laying off teachers and custodians, reassigning other staff members, increasing fees, and reducing bus service.

In other action, the board heard administration reports on the status of implementation of so-called professional learning communities which are collegial groups committed to student learning and on the district’s response-to-intervention (RTI) programs, which are intended to provide early, effective assistance to children who are having difficulty learning.

Under the RTI programs of Ladue and other school districts, “(student) failure is no longer acceptable or an option,” said Joan Oakley, assistant superintendent for educational leadership and student services. She said the district was making solid progress in the implementation of its RTI program, now in the second year of district-wide implementation.