Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy on Friday said the Missouri legislature finally passed a budget for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relieve Funds 3 (ESSER3) which allocates an additional $2.4 million dollars to the Gasconade County R-2 School District.

“The supplemental budget bill passed and the governor signed it (Thursday),” Hardy said. “That gives our school district around $2.4 million dollars.”

School boards across the state of Missouri were becoming anxious as legislators had not passed legislation to distribute the funds as required and the March 24 deadline was approaching.

“As long as they get this one passed, we are the only state in the Union that has not had our ESSER3 funding approved,” Hardy said. “I talked to the liaison the other day, and we are very fortunate with our legislators. They work well with us when we send them an email, they are very responsive. Other legislators in other parts of the state have not been so nice to school districts. We are very fortunate to be able to work with our legislators.”

ESSER3 funds are required to be spent on improving air quality within the buildings, providing more resources for students who have fallen behind during the pandemic, base instruction and providing more professional development for teachers to name a few items.

Hardy updated the board of Education on the state’s ESSER3 situation on Feb. 22.

“The budget has been passed through the House and is now in the Senate,” she had reported. “This is the one piece of legislation, while sitting in our Missouri meeting at the national conference last week, they said ‘there may not be anything else this session, but they may get that done.’”

Other bills have also been submitted to the legislature for review, but Hardy said they have the potential to be harmful to public education.

“That is not the impact we would like for education,” Hardy said while adding that the district has requested the teachers look into the bills.