June 2025 School Board Meeting

The Mount Vernon R-V Board of Education held a Regular Meeting on Thursday, June 19, 2025.  Below are some items of information from the meeting:

 

A Board Meeting Calendar for the 2025–2026 school year was approved and is attached for review and future planning.

 

Average Daily Attendance for May was 1,295.04, with an overall attendance rate of 92.04%.

  • This was a drop of 16.9 students from this time last year and a decrease of 42.01 students as compared to April.
  • Early release of Seniors in May contributes greatly to the decrease in ADA.

 

In Old Business, First Student has not yet provided an update regarding their request to restructure the District’s current transportation contract.

 

New Business

The Board approved changes to three stipends beginning in the 2025-2026 academic year.

  • Due to the addition of a competitive Show Choir season at the Middle School, Vocal Music Stipends were adjusted.
  • This competitive season began in the 2024-25 school year, and the additional work required was evaluated for a stipend increase next year.
  • The Director's stipend will increase from 14% to 18%, and the Assistant Director's stipend will increase from 6% to 10%

 

The stipend for the Middle School Activities Director was changed to a percentage-based stipend rather than a dollar amount.

 

The most important aspect of the June Board Meeting is to approve staff Salary Schedules and Provisions for the 2025-2026 academic year.

  • Preparing for salary schedules in FY26 proved more difficult than usual.
  • There is great uncertainty around school finance for next year and in the years ahead.
  • Local Funding:
    • The largest source of funding for the District is generated by local taxes and more than 80% of that comes from property taxes.
    • 2025 was a reassessment year in Missouri, and the District will see an increase in local funding in FY26 as a result.
    • However, a provision was attached to Senate Bill 3 coming out of the Special Session called by Governor Kehoe, which seeks to freeze real estate property values at 2024 levels.
      • Future local funding may be greatly impacted by this new law, which will require local voter approval before going into effect.
  • State Formula Funding:
    • Formula funding is driven by two important factors:
      • Weighted-Average-Daily-Attendance has long been the measuring stick for disbursement of state funding.
        • Beginning in FY26, a District’s weighted average membership will also factor into amounts owed to Districts.
        • In FY26, WAM will account for 10% of funding, with 10% increases to this measurement escalating to 50% by 2030.
      • The second important factor is a measurement known as the State Adequacy Target (SAT).
        • The State Adequacy Target represents what the state of Missouri believes to be the cost of adequately educating an individual student, as measured by the demographics of the highest performing districts in the state.
        • From 2009 to 2024, the SAT grew by 4.2%.
          • During the same 15-year period, expenditures per student grew by 42%.
        • In 2025, after full implementation of MSIP 6, the SAT grew by 12% from $6,375 to $7,145, with the increase to be split over two years.
          • This partial increase to a $6,750 SAT enabled the Board to give some of the largest salary increases in District history.
        • The legislature went above and beyond the Governor’s budget and approved another increase to the SAT to $7,145 (which is owed based on statute) and fully fund the formula.
          • If this increase materializes, it would represent another significant increase in state funding.
        • However, Districts have been cautioned not to expect to receive the revenue promised due to expected shortfalls in funding for FY26.
        • In fact, revenue fell short of the expected SAT for our final state payment in June, signaling potential withholdings on the horizon for FY26.
        • This financial uncertainty casts doubt over the revenue outlook next year as the Governor’s Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force also seeks to revamp the funding formula in the near future.
  • Federal Funding
    • The final important revenue source for Districts is Title funding received from the federal government.
    • This source is quite uncertain as the District awaits news of revenue for FY26.

 

Despite financial uncertainty, the Board approved the following salary schedules and provisions for the 2025-2026 academic year:

 

All staff are granted movement on schedules for years of experience and additional education earned.

  • Average movement on respective salary schedules is reflected below:
    • Professional Staff: 1.40%
    • Support Staff: 1.19%

 

The Professional Staff base salary will be increased by $500 to $38,000 (+1.33% from last year)

  • This represents the achievement of a three-year goal set in June 2022 when the base salary was $33,500 (a 13.4% increase in three years).
  • All professional staff will receive a $500 increase in addition to the increases granted for movement on the salary schedule.

 

The Custodial base salary will be increased to $15.00/hour (+1.69% from last year)

  • This also represents the achievement of a three-year goal set in June 2022 when the custodial base salary was $12/hour (a 25% increase in three years) and allows the District to comply with the new minimum wage law going into effect in January 2026.

 

Other Support Staff base wages will be raised by 1.33%.

  • $16.84/hour for support staff with a college degree
  • $15.49/hour for support staff with a certificate and/or 60 college hours
  • $22.29/hour for the LPN/SRO salary column

 

Non-schedule increases are scheduled to reflect the raises given to professional and support staff, respectively.

 

All staff will also receive full insurance coverage at $6,660/employee (7.98% increase)

 

Substitute teacher pay was increased to $105/day, with retired Mount Vernon teachers to receive $115/day

 

A preliminary budget was approved for FY 2025-2026, with the final budget set for approval in September.

 

The revised Math and Science curriculum was presented by Mrs. Elsey and approved by the Board.

 

The Board also approved the 2025–2026 AMI (Alternative Methods of Instruction) Plan in the unlikely circumstance that a day missed might need to be made up virtually.

 

The Board reviewed and approved a revised and updated Continuous School Improvement Plan to reflect goals achieved in the 2024-2025 academic year.

 

In Closed Executive Session:

 

The Board was informed of the following resignations:

 

Penny Hardyman (Elementary Paraprofessional)

 

Espn Crockett (Elementary Paraprofessional)

 

The Board approved the following personnel recommendations:

 

  • Jeff Romine, recommended for the position of School Resource Officer (SRO)
    • Officer Romine, currently serving as a detective for the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department, brings 16 years in law enforcement to the position.
  • Joey Parks was approved as a Middle School Boys’ Basketball Coach
  • Jessica Meeks was approved for a vacant Middle School Secretary Position
    • Mrs. Meeks replaces Stacy Pratt, who is moving to a similar position at the ELC

 

The next scheduled meeting of the Mount Vernon R-V Board of Education will be Thursday, July 17, at 7 PM in the District Administration Office Board Room. 

Attached Files