Special School District

quincunx · PostJul 23, 2020#12020-07-23T01:28+00:00

The city joining the special school district came up in the Stl County Exec debate tonight.

Would joining the SSD be beneficial to city kids?

How much would you be willing to raise your property taxes to join? The current rate is 1.1077. It's unclear if SLPS would reduce its rate and by how much if the city joined SSD.

PostJul 23, 2020#22020-07-23T01:39+00:00

I found this baffling.

StlToday - Special School District teachers protest board meeting, ask for district to spend budget surplus

The Special District National Education Association, the union that protested Tuesday, says the district's surplus, which represents more than 70% of the district's budget, is much larger compared with neighboring districts.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/edu ... 258c5.html

dbInSouthCity · PostJul 23, 2020#32020-07-23T01:40+00:00

quincunx wrote: ↑
Jul 23, 2020
The city joining the special school district came up in the Stl County Exec debate tonight.

Would joining the SSD be beneficial to city kids?

How much would you be willing to raise your property taxes to join? The current rate is 1.1077. It's unclear if SLPS would reduce its rate and by how much if the city joined SSD.

Absolutely, whatever is needed. Many people leave the city for the county because of SSD, as one of the moderators said, he did. He moved his family from STL hills to just outside the city border just to be able to send his kid to SSD.

chaifetz10 · PostJul 23, 2020#42020-07-23T05:12+00:00

Without hesitation. And if the city didn't join the SSD, if I had a child or children who qualified for special education services, I'd move to the county yesterday. This should be a no brainer to support if it were to officially be proposed.

quincunx · PostJul 23, 2020#52020-07-23T13:05+00:00

Written in March

STL Public Radio- Pathway Laid Out For St. Louis To Possibly Join County's Special Education District

If Dogan’s legislation becomes law, St. Louis residents would have to vote first to form a special school district, which would likely require authorizing a property tax increase. They would then have to vote a second time to be annexed by the county’s special school district.

SSD serves more than 23,000 children across all school districts in the county, and also runs alternative and vocational schools. St. Louis County property owners pay about $227 a year for each $100,000 a building is worth to SSD. It has a $460.1 million annual budget and $256.7 million in reserves, according to its public figures.

SLPS’s budget for special education services is $43.4 million for 6,700 special needs students out of its total of 21,800. Both SLPS and SSD say they spend a little more than $15,000 a year per student — $15,300 and $15,100, respectively.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/pa ... t#stream/0