Articles
State Outlines Bayless Options
At the March 14, 2012, Bayless School Board meeting, Jeffrey Preisack, Board of Education president, directed Dr. Maureen Clancy-May, Bayless Superintendent of Schools, to ask the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) what options Bayless has should the majority of voters choose not to pass Proposition B on Tuesday, April 3rd.
On March 30, 2012, Ronald Lankford, Deputy Commissioner of DESE, provided the attached letter in response. As is consistent with the District’s informational campaign to the parents and constituents of the Bayless School District, if Bayless is unable to provide adequate local funding of its educational programs through local taxes, the District will be forced to adhere to a number of administrative requirements which may ultimately lead to loss of accreditation and eventually the “corporate organization shall lapse.”
The Bayless School District faces deep and painful cuts to an already financially lean district. At the February Bayless BOE meeting, the Board authorized the use of a budget reduction process to assist in providing the BOE recommendations to consider should the Board have to cut $1.5 million from the upcoming school year’s budget.
Bayless has one of the lowest property tax rates in St. Louis County, but also has among the lowest total assessed property valuation of St. Louis County School Districts. This combination (low tax rate and low assessed property valuation) is a formula for financial woes.
