Superintendent Dr. Chuck Garner on Nov. 16 told the Gasconade County R-2 Board of Education that the district received a clean audit from Catlett & Associates certified public accountants.

“The audit was performed by Catlett & Associates when they were here two days in August. It is a clean audit, and he has no concerns,” Garner said. “Everything is moving like it is suppose to.”

The district’s unrestricted fund balance, similar to a savings account, is recommended to have three to six months worth of district expenses in case of emergencies. The district tries to keep the fund balance at 25 percent.

“The unrestricted fund balance closed at 26.4 percent,” Garner told the board.

The district projected that the fund balance would close at 26 percent in June — an increase attributed to the lack of expenses due to the COVID-19 closures.

Board President Glenn Ely continued with the report, saying there were no audit findings related to internal controls. “We need to continue to be good stewards to the board, staff and students,” Ely finished.

The audit report was approved with a 7-0 vote.

Garner told the board that the annual legislative breakfast — hosted by the district for local and state representatives — is canceled this year.

“Two representatives responded that they would come,” Garner said. “We are going to mail a book to them about our district’s interests and needs.”

Garner also informed the board that Sen. Mike Bernskoetter (R) of District 6 agreed to sponsor the dollar modifier bill, which would authorize the Gasconade R-2 School District, which crosses county boundaries, to use the county that yields the highest dollar value modifier under the school foundation formula.

“Hopefully we can testify on that,” Garner said. “We have had hearings, but can’t get it out of committee. This is year four.”

An update on the GCR2 Community Cares Facebook page that the school uses to ask the community for help where it is needed for students and families of students was provided by Garner.

“The site has been up for over five years now and has 867 followers with a 100 percent and an average of three hours on those responses,” Garner told the board.

Over the past year, GCR2 Community Cares, operated by the district’s family/school liaison fulfilled the needs and connected over 5,000 people to a new food bank opportunity; filled the need for a full-sized refrigerator that was viewed by 2,700 people and filled within a week; a post asking for beds was viewed by 1,400 people and the need fulfilled within days; and the pandemic response has been good according to the report.