CHAMOIS —The Osage R-1 School Board approved April 2 Municipal Election results at the start of their meeting on Wednesday, April 10.

School Board members Nick Schollmeyer and Kris Wuelling, who  retained their seats, took the Oath of Office. Superintendent Lyle Best read the certified election results that the district had received from Osage County that showed Schollmeyer with the most votes at 82 and Wuelling with 62. Challenger Sabra Paulsmeyer received 29 votes. The results from Gasconade County were similar, leading to the same outcome of Schollmeyer and Wuelling with the most votes. Both Schollmeyer and Wuelling were elected to a three-year term.

The school board also voted to retain Steve Cramer as the School Board president, Rebecca Mehmert as the vice-president and Jenny Keiholz as the secretary/treasurer and custodian of records.

In other business, the school board approved a budget amendment.  Best noted that there were no big changes to the budget. The biggest change was for revenue where the total increased from $3,073,084 to $3,168,985. The changes were across all revenue sources with local revenue increasing from $1,203,505 to $1,247,395, county increasing from $100,000 to $127,000, state increasing from $1,321,368 to $1,338,507, and federal increasing from $421,211 to $453,083.

Expenses also increased slightly from $3,032,556 to $3,075,168.

The following line items had increases: elementary ($451,820 from $451,687), high school ($404,627 from $404,443), special services ($11,896 from $8,381), special education ($172,011 from $163,811), Title 1 ($79,865 from $68,296), vocational ($143,623 from $143,273), health services  ($10,681 from $10,676), board services ($29,020 from $27,200), executive administration ($190,856 from $190,806), building level administration ($163,543 from $159,023), operation plant ($560,065 from $551,465),  district transportation ($20,965 from $18,412), food services ($165,248 from $164,976),  and other community ( $6,731 from $6,090).

The following expenses remained unchanged: student activities/athletics ($132,513), tuition to other districts ($2,000), guidance ($63,260), speech/language therapy ($23,500), occupational therapy and physical therapy ($12,000), consultant teacher ($9,000), professional development ($23,309), professional development committee ($10,973), media services ($62,651), special education administration ($17,898), contracted transportation ($116,500), other transportation ($4,000), security services ($2,500), info service tech ($79,379), early childhood development ($82,611), parent involvement ($3,446), principal/interest/lease ($9,200), and homeless set aside ($400),

Only one expenditure item decreased: Parents as Teachers (from $9,517 to $9,057).

The last time the budget was amended was September 2023.

Board members also approved the career ladder plan, and it will remain unchanged from the 2023-24 school year. Best explained that eight of the districts eligible teachers participated in the Career Ladder program last year and he hopes they will get more participation this upcoming year.

“There are 16 teachers eligible for it,” Best said. “I’m not sure why more teachers didn’t participate in it, but I understand that people have a lot of things going on.”

The career ladder program has three stages. Stage One would require a teacher to have two years of classroom teaching in Missouri completed and work an additional 50 hours for $1,500. Stage Two would require teachers to have three years of teaching completed and require 75 hours of additional work and would add $3,000 to the teacher’s salary. Stage Three would require five years of teaching and 100 hours of additional work but net a $5,000 addition to the teacher’s salary.

Teachers must be approved for what work they do, and the district will report to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The State of Missouri offers matching funds for the program and pays 60% of the cost.

School board members awarded the contract to put up the new elementary playground to Pete Walkenbach who bid the install at $6,500 plus materials. Walkenbach previously put up the playground shade at the preschool.  The district received another bid from Bollinger and Associates from Hillsboro, Missouri for $29,800 for the same scope of work.

The school district approved listing the old elementary playground equipment as surplus property to sell. Originally the district had hoped to work out a deal with the city of Chamois and while Best explained they are welcome to bid on the equipment it will now be up for sale to anyone who wished to submit a bid. The playground equipment will be sold in three lots: one large play structure, one small play structure, and two spring riders.

Best presented a preliminary budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

“These are rough numbers, but we have a pretty good idea of where we are at,” Best explained.

The school district is projecting that it will have revenues totaling $2,934,482. This is down from last year’s revenue total of $3,165,985.

The new budget has revenue numbers broken down as follows: local ($1,228,006), county ($105,000), state ($1,301,884), and federal ($239,592). This will be a decrease in revenues of $234,851, mostly due to Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) federal funds no longer being available to the school district.

Best explained that expenditures are tougher to predict. Best is including the increased money needed for approved raises, a 3% increase in transportation cost, a 5% increase in food service and an 8% increase in energy costs. He estimates these cost increases will amount to an increase in expenses of $59,574.

“We are looking at basically a $250,000 change in budget to the negative,” Best said. “Some years that would be a problem but it’s not because we were able to build up our balances. There is not alot we are going to need to cut but we need to understand moving forward that those funds are not going to be there anymore.”

Best said that while the district has been using ESSER funds to fund certain programs he believes the district will be able to keep those programs and fund them through different channels.

“We need to be smart,” Best said. “We’re in a very good spot going forward. We have a big cushion.”

Best will present a final budget proposal at the next meeting.

Charles Luebbert Hardwood Floors will be working on the gym floors in June. The district needs to finalize what they would like the final look to be.

“We are not looking to make any big changes,” Best said.

The plan is to put the pirate logo in the center of the court. The plan is also to paint the lines purple instead of yellow so that they wear better. They will also not be leaving lanes and three-point lines open instead of painted or stained so that there is less future maintenance.

Best noted that the last time the floors were sanded down and refinished was in the 1990’s.

There will not be a price change unless the district adds items or changes from the original plan from last year. The original estimate was $24,650 and included sanding to bare wood, apply finish, stripe game lanes, and artwork.

The school board members tabled making any decisions on the agreement with FSG Engineering Inc to do a facility study for the school district.

Board members approved expenses for the month totaling $40,983.54.

The Chamois R-1 School District has the following account balances: general ($2,395,930), special ($164,814), and capital projects ($560,267).

The district’s current assets total $3,118,281 and are divided into the following accounts: cash in bank ($394,540), petty cash ($300), savings accounts ($1,966,309), and certificates of deposit (cds) (4757,131).

Superintendent’s Report

Superintendent Lyle Best is concerned about Senate Bill 827 that has currently passed the state Senate and has had two hearings already in the state’s House of Representatives.

“The bill entails so much and some of it is good and some of it isn’t,” Best said.

Best explained that the bill encompasses a number of things and could potentially affect 15 different education programs if it is passed.

“The state’s financial formula is based on a formulation that is set to go up $420 million dollars over the next two years which is a good thing although we won’t see a dollar of it which is not a good thing because we are held harmless for the formula so if it increases it doesn’t do anything for us but overall it is good for education,” Best explained.

The new bill is estimated to cost an additional $500 million dollars over the next three years and the foundation formula is set to go up $420 million.

“The state is going to have to find a billion dollars to put in their budget to fund all of these things,” Best said.

Best does not believe that is going to happen and believes that the current funding rates for education are not going to be sustainable.

“What that boils down to is, even the good things in the bill aren’t good if they are not funded and the  mandates aren’t any good if there is no money to support then,” Best said.

Educational items that are included in Senate Bill 827 are tax credit programs, voucher programs, literacy fund, virtual education, early childhood development,  transportation funding, charter expansion, an increase in the minimum for teacher salaries, the four-day school week, changes in the way the foundation formula is calculated, changes to funding through the small school grant program, and  changes to career ladder,.

“Ultimately, most educational organizations have come out as not being for this bill because it’s not guaranteeing any support for the measures,” Best said.

Best was able to renew two of the district’s certificates of deposit to a higher interest rate of 5.2% and 5.35%.

All the buses have passed inspection as did the school activity bus although the back door had to be replaced.

Best was asked to put together the cost of repairs for the boilers over the last couple of years. His research found that the district has paid about $90,000 since January of 2020 for repairs and maintenance to the boilers with the majority of the work being down by Harold G. Butzer, Inc.

Principal Report

School Principal Jeremy McKague reported that Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) sponsor Carol Clark has taken seven students to the FBLA state conference in Springfield. One of the students has qualified for the National FBLA competition.

The “First Impact” program will be presented on April 19 and will be attended by sixth grade through twelfth-grade students.

The blood drive is scheduled for April 30 from 1 to 5 p.m. McKague encourages anyone interested to sign up online.

Thirty-one elementary students are going to Strikers in Jefferson City since they have met their reading goal for the school year.

Kindergarten orientation was on April 11. The district is expecting seven students. Testing will be by appointment on April 29.

Senior sponsor Joyce Wright has reported back several times that the senior trip was going well. The seniors planned to be back on Friday, April 12.

Ninth through twelfth-graders will be going on a field trip to the Holocaust Museum in St. Louis. Third through fifth-graders will be going to the Museum of Missouri Military History and the Runge Nature Center.

“It’s a busy month and I may have missed some things,” McKague said.