The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
La Harpe School Superintendent Jo Campbell and the La Harpe School Board members were well pleased with the large turn out for their special board meeting last Wednesday evening.
The public forum was held to reveal the results of a recent school survey sent to La Harpe District residents.
Out of the approximate 1900 surveys sent 635 were returned, about 33%.
Barbara Cox, board president, opened the meeting by greeting the crowd and stating how pleased they were with the support.
Superintendent Campbell gave a brief history of the district. He then told of meetings with neighboring districts which began in July 2003 through January of this year. Superintendents and 2 board members from the districts of Dallas City, Nauvoo Colusa, Carthage, Southern, and West Prairie meet at different times during this period.
Southern dropped out in September of 2003. The results of their surveys are not known at this time, but all will meet again in March.
Campbell then presented a slide presentation on the following points:
A. Financial status
of the district:
1. Graph indicating trends predicted in October 2002 and current levels.
2. State funding formula based on ADA and EAV plus poverty levels
3. Occurred over a period of years, not overnight
4. Shift in reliance on state aid
5. inequity of funding is the problem
B. Establishment
of tax rates:
1. Some funds of the district have legal limits without referendum and also maximum limits
2. Rates are determined by the funds requested and the EAV.
3. EAV in the district is established by two criteria, fair market value of non farm property and soil type/productivity of agricultural land
C. Reorganization
options:
1. Description
2. Benefits
3. Process
4. Incentives
After Supt. Campbell's presentation, Lila McKeown, a LaHarpe High Science Teacher, who tabulated the results of the surveys, presented a slide presentation on these results.
The point that most residents agreed on was on convergence, forming a new larger high school (grades 9-12) and maintaining an elementary district (grades pre-k through 12) in LaHarpe.
Most did not prefer deactivation, nor reorganizing and paying tuition to send high school students to another district.
Questions were taken after the presentations.