Despite receiving the majority approval, or 53 percent of votes cast on April 7 to continue collecting the debt service levy of 67 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for building improvements, Gasconade County R-2 failed to receive the super majority, or 57 percent, of votes cast. District officials are meeting at 6 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) at the Administration Building to review new financial circumstances in the coming school year and the five-year plan.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Staci  Johnson shared with the board the expected loss of revenue, not including the debt service levy funds, for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years (reported in the April 28 edition of The Republican).

“We did not get the number of votes needed in order to pass the debt service levy extension,” Johnson said. “Currently, our debt service is at 67 cents. For this coming school year, this coming August, we have to roll down the debt service levy to 15 cents or less.”

Officials won’t know how much the new debt service levy will be until they calculate the remaining bond debt at the end of June.

Board President Glenn Ely shared a visual of what the loss could look like, beginning with the fact that Missouri is rated 49th in state-level education funding. However, in regard to local funding, Missouri rates seventh in the nation.

“It’s important to understand,” Ely said. “That’s the facts.”

He said he reviewed 15 years worth of school board meetings, which took him roughly 12 to 15 hours. His analysis was completed with none of the new financial shortfalls included.

“There’s 22 pages of just the methodology, the assumptions and conclusions on the documents,” he began. “So, there’s basically a stack up. How do we look?”

Ely broke down the losses into one-cent impacts.

“What does one penny do? How does it impact?” Ely asked.

The potential loss of 52 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, plus local, state and federal funding shortfalls, is significant.

“The real picture is why that retention is important, how we’re funding our students, and our curriculum. So, I’ll give you a couple of examples. It’s roughly $21,000, to give you an idea of what one cent looks like, because you’re literally talking a one-cent impact on the operating levy.”

Ely said one cent is the equivalent of a pair of paraprofessionals or teachers’ aids, three classrooms, curriculum, and 30 devices.

“It’s one full program,” Ely said. “Those are one-cent impacts. One bus route is one cent. One science lab is one cent. One cent is the difference between keeping a position or losing a position. It’s a two-year delay in technology, it’s a three-year pause in the library. It’s eliminating, reducing or cutting activities. Trips. It’s deferring repairs, and then the compounding of it. It’s why this is an important conversation, because it’s literally creating what it is that we do as a board. Lead the conversation and interact with our community, our staff and our administrations.”

Ely said the board needs to discuss how to make this a healthy financial situation for the district, to fit the needs and responsibilities they have.

“There’s a difference between whether it’s a one-time grant, and this is something that we can build programs and commitments, and as a board, we’ve tried to do,” Ely said. “We want sustainability. So, in addition to the revenues, and this around just the operating levy, what the fund scenarios look like, there’s four or five different projections.”

He said the way the district is currently operating is not sustainable under the revenue loss.

The district has a $2.7 million fund balance, or 40 percent of it’s overall budget. Johnson said they expect to need it.

“That’s why I say we can run next year, like we’re going to be okay, but it means that every year that reserve balance is going to go down and down and down, unless you infuse more revenue or less spending,” Johnson said.

The board’s goal is to have a 25 percent fund balance or higher. If the fund balance is too high or too low, the state comes in to review it.

Also, out of the $2.7 million, the district has four projects currently pending.

Board member Kari Nolting said they need to be individually thinking about what they feel are priorities and where they can cut. She isn’t for pausing the teachers’ salary schedule.

“I would like to add that moving forward, knowing that we are going to be spending more than we are bringing in for an unknown number of years, next year, for sure, we all probably need to individually be thinking about our priorities,” Nolting said. “What we will not touch, and what we are okay with cutting, and where that comes from, because it’s not sustainable. That’s what we’re getting at. We cannot keep up freezing the salary schedule — that will never die — if we ever had to do that, and it just feels like a non-option. So there are other things that we’ve got to consider.”

Once the current bond is paid, the remaining debt service levy goes away, and any future bond requests will require a tax increase. The district will continue to receive the $3.18 operating levy.

A closed session is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. for a personnel discussion.