A dollar-value modifier (DVM) bill passed Thursday in the Senate that will permit the Gasconade County R-2 School District to receive an additional $1 million annually by claiming a higher monetary amount for students who live in Franklin County, but attend school within the district.

Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy said she received a call around 5 p.m. May 12 from Rep. Bruce Sassmann R-Bland that the bill had passed.

“I don’t have a lot of details right now,” Hardy said. “Representative Sassmann notified me shortly after 5 p.m. The governor has to sign it and that is usually done by June 15.”

Representatives of Gasconade County R-2 have been trying to get the DVM bill to pass since former superintendent Dr. Chuck Garner, in 2017, asked local representatives to file it. Garner previously informed the board of education that the district was at an unfair advantage trying to maintain a school in Franklin County and compete with other schools in that area while receiving fewer funds to educate students. It is hard to compete when not given the same resources.

Gasconade County has an index of 1.00 while Franklin County, where Gerald Elementary School is located, receives a 1.09 index.

“The amount you receive (from the state) is based on the index and the county where your administration building is located is what determines the index,” Hardy explained.

Sassmann took up the mantel on the school district’s behalf to pass the legislation when he took office in 2020. He filed the bill in conjunction with Sen. Mike Bernskoetter in both the House and Senate in January under SB 2445 and SB 818. 

According to the bill language, it “will let a school district in Gasconade County that covers part of another county use the county financial figures that would provide the highest amount of state funds for the district under the state School Foundation Program that allocates state funds to public schools. Part of that formula is based on financial data of the district’s county.”

However, as the end of the session drew near, the item was amended onto a bill by Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin R-Shelbina, regarding elementary and secondary education.

“It passed through SB 681,” Hardy said. “I am so thankful for the support of the board of education, Board President Glenn Ely. Representative Bruce Sassmann and Senator Bernskoetter worked diligently on our behalf. I am thankful to Dr. Garner for all of his previous years of work to help getting this bill passed.”

The Gasconade County R-2 was one of a few schools in Missouri that were left out of a previous bill allowing school districts that overlap counties with a higher dollar value modifier to use the larger monetary formula. Sassmann researched the previous bill and discovered neighboring Maries County R-2 was also affected as it overlaps Osage County. That district’s Superintendent Dr. Lenice Basham explained that the number of district students who live in Osage County is fewer and so their monetary gain is less, but appreciated.

“Bruce Sassmann is the one who proposed the bill as he works for both counties,” Basham explained. “He came to me and we looked it up. It did increase our annual budget by $100,000. That is great for the district and Bruce worked really hard on that. We are incredibly proud to have him as part of our community.”

Sassmann also discovered and added West St. Francis County R-6 School District to the bill to encompass all schools that were missing out on the advantage of educating students at a higher monetary rate with less funding.