September 2024 School Board Meeting

The Mount Vernon R-V Board of Education held its Regular Meeting on Thursday, September 19, 2024.  Below are some items of interest.

The Board recognized the District’s MV-MVPs for September.  Annie and Mike Koenig were selected as the winners this month.  Annie is the Eighth Grade Science teacher and MVMS and Mike is the Sixth Grade Social Studies teacher at MVMS. Their nomination was as follows:

The Koenig’s spent their summer making the Carson Gym look much better. They spent countless hours painting the Gym. Mr. Koenig spent so much energy drawing the mountains at the scorer's table.

They both showed pride in the school but took the initiative to make it better. Our students -  as well as our staff, community, and opposing schools - get to see a much-improved look in our gym.

Mrs. Koenig also worked to implement a new Excel program for our 7th and 8th graders. She worked with Ms. Beckner to come up with a plan to reward our students while simultaneously using an RTI program to assist students with grades and missing work.

Thank you to the Koenig’s for making it a Great Day to Be a Mountaineer!

The Board heard reports from our Student Board Advisory Team about programs and activities in which they are involved.  Student reports were provided on FFA, the GOCAPS program, Interact Club, and the new NHS class at the High School.  Great things are happening for students at MVHS!

The District has traditionally used the first Tuesday after Labor Day as a benchmark for comparing overall enrollment.

• We dropped six students from this time last year and stand at 1,448.
• This modest decrease still represents our highest enrollment on this date since 2015-16.
• We are serving 119 (not included in the above total) students in our Early Childhood Program (combined ECSE and ADA) and that number traditionally grows as the year progresses.

Administrators provided an update on the progress of our Continuous School Improvement Plan.

• MSIP 6 requires the Board to evaluate progress on the CSIP periodically throughout the school year.
• This month, the focus was on Anchor #3 - Collaborative Climate and Culture
• Strategic Goal #1:  To prioritize the communication of the mission and vision of Mount Vernon R-V School District to all stakeholders 
• As part of evaluating progress on Strategic Goal #1, administrators provide a report on the work being done by the Building Leadership Team at each campus.
• Strategic Goal #2:  To provide emotional health support and services to Mount Vernon R-V School District staff and students.
• Two action steps under this goal are to:
• Provide teachers with support on how to assist students struggling with mental health issues
• Provide at least one Professional Development opportunity per year with an emphasis on self-care
• The District was blessed to receive a grant from the Missouri Child Psychiatry Access Project to host a speaker on Trauma-Informed Care at this Monday’s Collaboration Day.
• Josh Varner is a nationally recognized speaker specializing in Trauma-Informed Care.
• Two out of every three students in the United States are impacted by a traumatic event.  
• When students experience trauma or an extremely stressful situation, it's normal and natural for them to have a hard time coping afterward.  
• Mr. Varner’s keynote will help us:
• Learn how many students are impacted by childhood trauma and how to identify them.
• Learn how the brain and body respond to trauma and how that impacts student behavior. 
• Leave with a ‘Call to Action’ and be equipped with many specific tools that are easy to use to support their students.
• In the afternoon session, Mr. Varner will speak with a focus on how to deal with the increased stress of being an educator.
• Strategic Goal #3:  To provide multiple opportunities for character development in our students through school-related activities.
• The Board heard about programs going on at MVIS with a focus on character education.
• Two student groups have been working through daily tasks which provide character-building opportunities.
• SWAG - Students Working to Achieve Greatness
• Community service projects
• Announcements
• Assemblies
• Office Aides
• Raise and lower the flag
• Deliver teacher mail
• Fill copiers
• The Counseling Office is also supporting students working through various issues to help with problem-solving.
• Counselors Club
• Conflict resolution
• Friendship characteristic 
• Mentors for other students
• Peer Mediators
• Conflict resolution
• Gives students a voice to solve problems
• Mr. Beckner also shared about a recent opportunity MVHS students had to visit other campuses speaking about the various activities in which they participate.  
• They brought along the Bell Bowl trophy and used the opportunity to share about school spirit.
• Strategic Goal #4:  To participate in numerous activities designed to strengthen the relationship between the community and Mount Vernon R-V School District while learning and demonstrating our community values. 
• Mrs. West has worked closely with the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce to promote “Bleed Green Fridays” throughout the community.
• Various businesses and individuals are proudly displaying Bleed Green signage to facilitate a common spirit in the community every Friday.
• A final report was given on the initiation of the Mount Vernon Mountaineer Hall of Fame.
• Nominations for the initial class of the Mountaineer Hall of Fame are underway and will be accepted through December 1.  
• Follow this link for additional information about how to nominate deserving individuals in one of eight different categories:
• https://www.mtvernon.k12.mo.us/apps/pages/hof

The Board approved the 2024-2025 Budget Document.

• Several factors influencing revenue and expenditures were noted:

1. State formula projections are expected to increase in FY25 and FY26 due to changes in the Student Adequacy Target brought about by recalculation of the state formula as Districts were reclassified under MSIP 6 provisions.  

• Formula payments will be based on an SAT of $6,760 in FY25 ($7,145 in FY26) increasing from $6,375 which had been in place since FY20.
• Weighted threshold changes are also in effect in FY25.  
• The District may be able to take advantage of these changes through estimating ADA through the course of the year.  
• Full funding of this amount was approved by the Legislature. 

2. The WADA used for state formula payments is from the 23-24 school year.  

• The District had been relying on WADA from 19-20 under the state’s pandemic provision.
• However, this option ended in FY24. 
• Fortunately, WADA in 23-24 increased by 2.165 (1,417.4378) students, rebounding from declines in the three previous years.

3. The District had a very modest increase in Assessed Valuation relative to FY24.  

• The increase of $3,492,381 represented a 2.34% increase for FY25.

4. The PSRS/PEERS contribution rate was not increased.
5. The District continued a partnership with Show-Me Benefit Consortium as the provider of employee health care coverage. 

• Monthly premium costs increased to $514/employee/month representing an increase of 7.08% from FY24.  

6. The state budget includes full transportation funding for the third consecutive year after 30 years of partial funding. 
7. The state budget included funding for Career Ladder for the third consecutive year.  

• The state portion of Career Ladder is intended to fund 60% of the program with the remaining 40% of funds coming from local revenue.  
• The District has continued to fund the local portion of Career Ladder as the STEPS Program for the past thirteen years.  

8. The state budget included the Teacher Baseline Salary Grant and the District is participating for the third consecutive year.  

• This year, the grant was increased to provide funds to ensure all teachers earn a minimum of $40,000 annually.  
• Beginning in FY26, the teacher minimum salary will be set at $40,000 regardless of the availability of grant assistance.
• The District has 26 teachers who qualified for this grant.  

9. The base salary on the Professional Staff Salary Schedule was increased to $37,500.  

• The Custodial column on the Support Staff Salary Schedule was increased to $14.75 per hour (a 7.26% increase).

10. Title I allocations decreased by $36,479 for FY25.  

• The District continues to transfer funds from Title II and Title IV allocations to help maintain our level of Title I service and will have some carryover amount for use this year.

11. The local Operating Levy is $2.75 and which has been our rate since 1999-2000.  

• Our Operating Levy is set at the lowest allowable rate under the Missouri Constitution.  
• The community approved a $0.35 increase to the Debt Service Levy in 2020 raising the combined levy to $3.67.

• The breakdown of revenue and expenditure sources in the 2024-2025 Budget are as follows:

• Final budgetary figures indicate a deficit budget for FY25 as shown in the table below:

In Closed Executive Session:

• The Board was informed that Brianna Bray resigned from her position as High School Nurse effective September 18.
• The Board approved Emily Roberts to fill this position.
• Mrs. Roberts is currently working at Lawrence County Manor and brings seven years of experience in the medical field prior to this position.

The next scheduled meeting of the Mount Vernon R-V Board of Education will be Thursday, October 24 at 7 PM in the District Administration Office Board Room.