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Huge crowd packs Ferguson-Florissant School Board meeting to sound off about district's money woes

"Staffing is a huge concern. We teachers are biting our nails," said Victoria Ferris, a teacher at McCluer North High.

HAZELWOOD, Mo. — The Ferguson-Florissant School Board meeting was packed Wednesday night. A highly-anticipated item was on the agenda: How should the north St. Louis County school district handle its current budget issues?

"I want to know several things, including what staff is possibly being cut? Will coordinators also be cut?" Bobbie Small-Harkless asked the school board.

Small-Harkless is a school office manager at one of the district's elementary schools.

"We would like to be part of the solution or a solving team instead of being left out," said Victoria Ferris, a McCluer North High School teacher and a 20-year-plus member of the school district.

The school district is facing a nearly $8 million projected deficit if things don't turn around by the next school year.

As a result, the school board recently surveyed parents, staff and community members and asked several things, including if the district should close or consolidate some of its 23 schools, slash its 77 bus routes or reduce the amount of money substitute teachers are paid.

"Staffing is a huge concern," Ferris said.

Ferris also said many teachers are now afraid of potentially losing their jobs or their class sizes expanding, which she said "will make it harder for teaching."

"All of us teachers are doing the equivalent of biting our nails, worried about how the already shortage of teachers is going to be compounded," she said.

Nearly 10,000 students currently make up the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

The district says last month it reduced its spending by $14 million through cuts approved by the Board of Education two weeks ago, but it didn't help much.

"Students are probably gonna feel a little bit of pain in this because it's the reality of the situation that we are in. We need to make a decision on where our future lies," parent Doug Jackson said.

The school board will review everything it heard Wednesday night and possibly announce some final decisions at its next meeting on March 26.

The district said parents, staff and the community can get involved in making their voice heard by taking a survey by 10 a.m. Thursday, March 13.

Before You Leave, Check This Out

Trump's visa crackdown on Chinese students could have outsize impact in Missouri, St. Louis

Chinese students contribute $181.3 million to Missouri's economy annually, one nonprofit says.
Credit: KSDK

ST. LOUIS — The Trump administration's plans to "aggressively revoke" the visas of Chinese students could have an outsized impact on Missouri, which had more than 5,500 students from China in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Missouri, despite being the 21st-biggest state for population, ranks 10th in the nation for international student population, according to data from Open Doors. And St. Louis, the 23rd-largest metro, ranks 17th among them for hosting international students, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Institute of International Education, which oversees Open Doors, said in an email. Chinese students bring an estimated $181.3 million to the state economy, based on the average per-student expenditure of international students in Missouri, it said.

The region, then, could be hit especially hard by plans from the Trump administration to revoke the visas of Chinese students, revealed in a May 28 statement from U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields could be targeted.

Click here to read the full story from the St. Louis Business Journal.

130,000 Missouri students in default face wage garnishments amid loan crisis

If you're in default on your student loans you could still be at risk for your wages, or tax refunds.

ST. LOUIS — Today marks nearly one month since the U.S. Department of Education resumed collection on defaulted federal student loans. This impacts more than 5 million Americans and thousands in Missouri.

In the last 24 hours, the Department of Education changed its plan and has put a pause on social security benefit garnishments. Regardless, if you're in default on your student loans, you could still be at risk for your wages or tax refunds to be taken, plus your credit score being lowered. Here in Missouri, 130,000 people are currently in default according to state data.

What is default?

  • Default happens when federal student loans go unpaid after 9 months. 
  • You will be given a notice before they garnish your check, usually 30-60 days before.
  • The government can take up to 15% of your paycheck, but it must leave you with $217.
  • Garnishment lasts until the loan is paid off, the default is resolved or a new repayment plan is created. 

If this affects you, you still have options. Jerome Katz, Saint Louis University professor and Robert H. Brockhaus Chair of Entrepreneurship, said there are ways to get your payments lowered.

"Even if you are facing hardship, you can't make your rent payment, or you have to cut back on buying food. Because of that, you can get hardship exemptions," Katz said. "Again, you have to apply and make the case. But it's possible to get a lower minimum monthly payment. If you take, take the effort to try and get that, it's going to be a lot more work for all of those people, particularly our poorest loan recipients. But there is a path forward."

If you have federal student loans from multiple service providers, Katz said you want to make sure that in total 15% of your wages are garnished and not 15% garnishment from each student loan provider. If you're unemployed, you can apply for deferment or forbearance. Programs for deferment or forbearance won't automatically happen. Depending on one's situation, the loans could be put on pause for 36 months. Click here to view your options if your loans are in default. 

"You owe everything in fact, when you weren't paying the loans, you were still obligated to pay the interest on the loans. So it's loans plus interest. There may be additional fees, particularly if you get a loan from a private lender rather than a government lender," Katz said. "They have all sorts of fees for late payments and stuff like that. You are on the hook for everything, and during the COVID-19 hiatus on payments-- it's not that the money was canceled, it was just accumulating. So that debt has never gone away. It's all there, and if there are additional fees...they're there, too."

Student Loan Debt in Missouri

The average student loan debt in Missouri is on par compared to the nationwide average, according to EducationData.org:

  • $29.3 billion in student loan debt belongs to state residents.
  • $35,675 is the average student loan debt.
  • 821,300 student borrowers live in Missouri.
  • 47.4% of them are under the age of 35.
  • 13.3% of state residents have student loan debt.
  • Among the state’s indebted student borrowers, 14.0% owe less than $5,000.
  • 22.4% owe $20,000 to $40,000 (average $28,548).
  • 1.90% owe more than $200,000.

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