Rockwood School District Budget: Cuts Vs. Potential Tax Rate Increase Being Considered

With Rockwood School District decision-makers facing pivotal choices about handling an overall budget deficit, area taxpayers and parents have a new way to participate in the process. But the window of time for voicing opinions about these decisions is starting to close.

District board members will meet Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. for an extra roll-up-the-sleeves financial work session at Crestview Middle School, 16025 Clayton Road in Ellisville.

Anyone now can provide input to the district's budget scenario by taking an online community survey between now and Nov. 21. District officials said these electronic-based questions are the same ones asked to a randomly selected group of 500 Rockwood patrons via a recent telephone survey that just concluded last week.

The online survey consists of 27 questions.  Survey participants first are asked to assign a "grade" to public schools, and then to Rockwood itself.

Other elements among the questions include whether the quality of the Rockwood School District has gotten better or worse over time; if taxes are associated with the quality of education; and about the job performances of board members, superintendent, teachers, communications staff and degree of public input.

Several questions focus on if there are adequate funds to continue meeting Rockwood goals.  Another emotionally charged consideration threaded fairly frequently into the questionnaire is about increasing class sizes.

The last time voters were asked for a tax increase was in 1994, and district officials are quick to remind that Rockwood has one of the lowest per-pupil expenditures in St. Louis County.

The survey says Rockwood already made $17 million in budget cuts over the past four years.

One line item being assessed is the district's nationally recognized gifted program executed through the Centers for Creative Learning in Ellisville.

Over this weekend, one Patch reader asked why the Rockwood Central Office outdoor sign just got a face lift, with decorative rock and shrubs. Corri Hoppe, of Eureka, said the sign project "took three workers" and "blocked traffic on East North Street during the busiest time of the morning" last week.

She said when she e-mailed district officials about the project, she received an electronic response that indicated Rockwood grounds crew put a new base around the sign, "as it had some issues."

"Where is the common sense?  Aesthetics or education?" Hoppe asked.

Hoppe said she believed Rockwood "needs to adopt a back to the basics mentality."

"When Everyday Math requires parents to take classes to help 8- to 9-year-olds, something is wrong. The curriculum is unreasonable," she said.  "In addition, with the new laptops in each school, are new concepts being introduced, or are the skills being used comparable to the use of a standard computer? If so, it is more money being spent wastefully. So much money could be saved by not replacing carpet that is still good. Rockwood needs to open its eyes to the places where money is wasted."