Voters in the Wright City R-2 School District will be asked to make a decision regarding the Prop K tax levy increase during the upcoming Nov. 8 election.The proposal is for a 51-cent operating levy increase to help attract and retain high-quality teachers in the district.While conferencing with students last winter, R-2 Superintendent David Buck said the top concern voiced by students was the frequent turnover of the teaching staff.“Everyone had the exact same response,” said Buck. “When kids are saying I’m losing this teacher who cares for me and pushes me, how can I not respond? We want those kids to become productive community members.”The board began to take notice of the turnover rates and the discrepancies in salaries between R-2 and neighboring districts. Buck says that during the exit interview process, it was discovered that while teachers enjoyed their experience at Wright City, they desired a higher income potential. The district’s starting teacher salary is currently $35,000.Following the 2015-16 school year, R-2 had a 19.6 percent turnover rate, losing the majority of its teachers to the Francis Howell or Parkway school districts.“We’re very good at bringing folks on board, but we want to improve and sustain that excellence,” said Buck. “Our fear is it’s going to be hard to maintain that since we have so much turnover.”While the district has been consistently improving its state achievement scores, it also finds itself constantly searching for new teachers. Forty-four percent of the district-wide staff has been hired over the past three years. Out of the 33 educators at Wright City High School, 24 have been hired since 2011. “It’s going to be hard to maintain excellence if we have that turnover,” said Buck.Wright City’s current operating levy of $3.15 is lower than any of its five bordering districts, including Warren County R-2, which is at $3.55. Out of the 518 districts in Missouri, 366 currently have a higher operating levy than Wright City.“We have a much lower tax than everybody around us,” expressed Buck.The last time R-2 voters approved a levy increase was 1993, several years before any of its current students were born.To put the potential increase into perspective, a resident with a home with an assessed valuation of $100,000 would experience a $96.90 increase over an entire year or $8.08 per month.The district is optimistic after conducting a phone survey of its voters through an outside contractor during April. It was discovered that 60 percent of voters indicated they would support a 52-cent tax increase.“We’re not asking to catch the Howell or Zumwalt districts,” said Buck. “We’re trying to be competitive and close the state average.”Prop K