Kirkwood School District - Board of Education Work Session - September 8, 2025

001All right, it is now 6:30. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Uh, Miss Neman, will you please lead us in reciting the >> National United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation indivisibley and justice for all. Okay. Um, item 3.01, the KCC strategic plan. Dr. Rumpus, I'll turn it over to you. >> Thank you, Vice President Cathy. Um, board, we used our August board meetings, our work session, and the business meeting to get to reflect on last year's strategic plan, and then present at the district level goals and updates for the 2526 strategic plan and the work that we are doing. Um, we are really, really excited tonight to begin our first of four board work sessions where our school leaders will get to be here and talk through

002the success that they're experiencing at the school level, share with you some of the opportunities they have and the exciting things that are going on in their schools and the work that they have planned for this year. So, I will turn things over to Dr. Bailey and he will introduce our KECC team. >> Thank you. Excuse me. Thank you very much. I'm excited to sit up here with our KCC team and Dr. Rose will introduce those folks in a moment. Um, but I wanted to just give some uh preamble to all of the things that we'll see tonight. KCC, which also ho hosts our early childhood special education program, parents as teachers program, and adventure club has made tremendous growth in a number of changes since 2020. I'm extremely proud to work alongside this team

003and excited for them to show you not only their presentation, but to show the data and information uh about our programming. As a quick note, these programs are 12-month programs that provide supports for students and families all throughout the school year uh and many many hours throughout the day as well. Before I turn it over to Dr. Rose and her team, I did want to share just some highlights for each of these programs. Uh please note this list is in no way exhaustive and our team at KCC has made substantial and lasting contributions to our students, staff, families, and community. So since 2020, KECC has added three additional classrooms, increased enrollment by 60 students, and increased the number of financial partnerships for families uh significantly, implemented a certified teacher model, implemented an MTSS model with

004a dedicated school psychologist, added social work support, moved the main office to a new location to maximize safety, redesigned pickup and drop off procedures to go to each classroom instead of going to the main lobby area, redesigned and fencing and other campus safety and accessibility improvements, added increased academic opportunities, many of which you'll hear about tonight, as well as learning supports. Adventure Club since 2020 has increased enrollment by 40%. Summer Adventure Club is even more impressive, has increased enrollment by 180%. Uh, which is a huge huge number. The staff increase has been about 70%. The team has redesigned the staffing model to improve programming, improving retention rates to well over 85%. They've also utilized and implemented several student workers who have been key to the support for our adventure club program, further developed full day

005programming and improved summer programming and have already put out their uh flyers for this school year's full day programs that are available. All of this while staying well within budget. Our parents' teachers program has increased visits by 37% since 2020. Increased screenings by 60% since 2020. Increased staff by 22%. Added community community events and classes for our parents. Move the parents as teachers closet on campus. And it's very organized by the way and a great way to look and has continued to minimize the wait list for our students uh through and their families throughout. KCC is the first introduction that many of our families get to the school district. Parents as teachers is the first introduction that many of our families get to school district. and our adventure club program is usually the first and

006the last place our students are at at the elementary school. So, this is a key part of our program at the Kirkwood School District and just a wonderful team to have. So, I'm grateful for the work they have and some of the data again is just very very impressive. So, turn it over to Dr. Rose. >> Thanks, Dr. Bailey. Um, it is such an exciting uh time tonight to be here with you. It's a moment we look forward to every single year. So, thank you for making space on your busy agenda to just hear about the latest and greatest with all of our programs. Before I dive into our presentation, I'd really like to highlight Jen Han here tonight. She leads our adventure club program. You've heard those big statistics regarding our growth. Those are

007really possible due to her leadership and she touches that in a variety of ways every single day. We're so lucky to have her. And then Mary Pat Blasowitz who sits alongside us tonight as assistant principal of KECC. um she is just ready to jump into whatever is needed at our site and just a visionary to help us just keep becoming better versions of ourselves year after year. And then we have Penny Chastain who is our coordinator of parents' teachers. And you also heard the increased numbers that Dr. Bailey touched up on with regard to our um parent visits and our screenings and a lot of different pieces. And really she leads that work every day alongside her team and just generates great outcomes year after year. So, I couldn't be more um excited and feel

008more honored to get to work beside this team each and every day. Um we look forward to the opportunity to be here with you tonight to just share some of the progress we've made across the last year, really um highlight where we're headed, and then just envision our future together. So, thank you so much for having us. All right. Well, first up, we just really need a pause. in addition to the amazing amazing individuals sitting beside me to just highlight the team that you see on this slide. These are the real difference makers in our community in the living rooms across Kirkwood um the Kirkwood attendance area in the classrooms at KECC and Robinson and in all of our adventure club spaces at our five elementary sites. These are truly the individuals that make the

009magic happen and they just bring so much to our student experience each and every day. Um they are the heart and soul of all that we do and There just no words to describe our depth of gratitude that we have for what they pour in for our students on a daily basis. And together, this team had the opportunity to touch the lives of over 1400 students when we look back on the 2425 school year. And in my mind, that's just a whole lot of difference making going on in our community. We know a picture is worth a thousand words. And because we are in a lot of different places and spaces across our district, we'd like to just offer you the opportunity to take a look back on our past year, we brought forth some

010photographs that we think capture special moments within each of our programs. And like we hope you'll be able to see that a pioneer's journey starts with us. As Dr. Bailey said, whether it's starting their educational um point with our parents' teachers program or our preschool program or their day with adventure club and it's just really a privilege that we all hold close to our hearts. So, I hope you enjoy >> the days of [Music] our hearts. It'll stay the innocence of that first school day. [Music] This is all we need. Best friends [Music] and noret in our hearts. It'll stay the innocence of that first school day. [Music] This friendship is all we need forever [Music] andret in our hearts. It'll stay the innocence of that first day. She's a pioneer. >> I'm a pioneer.

011I am a pioneer. >> I'm a pioneer. >> We are pioneers. >> We are [Music] in a flash. Don't feel like the good times go by too fast. Thank you to Penny who brought our idea alive because we just really wanted represent that a pioneer's journey does start with us and the opportunity we have to be in service to our families even before their pioneer is actually born all the way through fifth grade is just something that we feel so lucky to get to do every single day. All right, moving on to celebrations. You'll see a variety of celebrations and from each respective program represented on the slide due to our time that we have together tonight. I will be just touching upon one item in each column. Having shared that, please feel free to

012ask questions about any of them. So, first up, adventure club. Um, one of the real highlights for us year after year is really the the weight list. Um, that is something that we our team works really hard to address in a swift manner. This year we started the school year with 23 students on the wait list. Most of those students were added in late summer. Um, and then as of today, we have five students remaining on the weight list. Those are students who we are trying to find one-on-one supports to partner with those individuals to just foster their success from start to finish in the program. And so, we're actively interviewing and working to recruit our newest team members to be able to support um those students that remain on the weight list and adventure

013club. And as soon as we're able to bring a staff person on board, we'll be extending invitations each respective student. So, we just really see that as a point of celebration. We know many of our neighboring communities have struggled with weight lists and I think really our ability to tackle the weight list is just a testament of Jen's leadership and the culture she creates within the program and helps us retain staff and also just our strategy of recruiting student workers. We have so many of our oldest pioneers represented in our adventure club staff and we think that's a really cool opportunity for a variety of reasons. It provides more staffing, but it also gives a bridge between our young elementary students all the way to those students at Kirkwood High School. Moving on to an

014area of growth. We all know the role that the environment and having a thoughtful environment in which to learn and play every day plays in how kids feel when they're with us. So, we poured energy into working to enhance our environments in the adventure club setting. Um, we really want them to feel like a sense of well-being in those spaces. We want them to feel welcomed. And if you were to visit, if you were to visit our elementary sites, you would notice some additions this year. Um you would notice rugs in those spaces, cozy corners, um sensory tables and light tables. We just really want to have something for all of our students to find engaging along the way. Um and and in addition, we've overlaid some uh programming around yoga and mindfulness. So we

015just think that's additional layer of well-being when we think about environment and programming. So that's really something we'd like to highlight. And as Dr. Bailey touch up on that the growth in summer in terms of summer adventure programming has just it was a record-breaking year. We had an average enrollment of 218 uh campers across each session with an all all-time high session of 233 students enrolled. Not only did Jen and her team really work to increase the number of students that we were programming for, we also extended the length of programming. We shifted from six weeks to seven weeks. um really just offering more continuity for families. So added that Fourth of July week of programming this year and really, you know, had a positive response from families and our goal is to be there

016for whenever our families might need us. And I anticipate that's a an extension that will continue into future years. Now, time to focus on some great things to happen in our parents as teachers program. Um, 10 parent educators this year were so efficient and effective. If you think about 10 individuals being able to complete a visit cadence of 2,84 family visits, it was like an unstated goal that Penny had in her mind. Um, but like the team achieved it and so then we made it an out loud goal because we didn't want them to feel that pressure, but we just thought that they could get there and that was really great milestone to hit. Not only did they increase the visits by 9%, they also incre increased screenings by 8% year-over-year. So they conducted an

017a total of 565 screenings with our young learners and their families with 103 of those leading to further evaluation, whether that's um just not maybe a formal evaluation, but it could be an an interim step to just get supports that they need all the way up to a formal evaluation. And so knowing the power of early intervention and what that means to our student success, that's just really a lot to celebrate with our parents as teachers team. U being a team that's committed to continuous growth and improvement. We voluntarily made a decision to be included on the Desi dashboard. It's not something that's required of parents as teachers programs at this time. Yet we chose that because we felt like we could see our metrics in that space year-over-year. really looking at how are we

018doing compared to ourselves from last year in a variety of different ways from stu from family visits to screenings to um family feedback through explicit surveys through our parents as teachers program. Not only can we look at how we're doing program our program year after year. can also look at how are we doing compared to other parents of teachers programs in the state because it has a Missouri summary that we can compare ourselves to and you can really look at how families are responding to data here in our local environment then also comparing how's that rating across the state to really look at areas of growth for ourselves. And then lastly, um Penny is not only a leader among us here in Kirkwood, she's a leader across the state. She is now entering her second

019year of sitting on Desessie's steering committee for the parents as teachers program and we know that like having her perspective and voice in that room really helps to ensure that we stay ahead of what's coming and then also she's able to just contribute all the knowledge that she has to just help the future of parents as teachers on a larger scale. So we're very excited for her participation in that. Moving on to our preschool classrooms. This was our first year of implementing the certified teacher model and we really saw a lot of benefits to that adding the dedicated plan time, the weekly PLC meeting opportunities. Uh we really saw that impact start to show up in our mys benchmarking data that we do in first quarter uh a winter period and then in spring. So

020a few little pieces of data that I'd like to highlight in our rhyming proficiency subset at the four five level we saw in significant increases. Uh we started the year with 44 students who were scoring prof at proficient and at third quarter we had 83 students who achieved proficiency and we intentionally moved our benchmarking period back this year to third quarter whereas historically we had done it later in the we had completed that later in the school year. We wanted to have time to really respond to what we saw in that data and make the most of the fourth quarter. Um, looking at sound ID, just when Dr. Bailey spoke about the MTSS process, we really have work to just um solidify that process as a part of who we are as a school community.

021And when you look at the sound ID, our tier 2 interventions that we had really yielded positive outcomes. We um had 95 students who had tier 2 interventions. 95% of them increased their raw score and then 65% moved up a tier. And so we really see that as a point of celebration and we're looking to really continue refining our look at data next year to just really keep increasing the number of students reaching proficiency. And again, that was, you know, our third quarter uh period that we were looking at. And then also the area of quantity comparison. U when we're talking about numeric we saw a reduction in learners scoring at risk. At the beginning we had 66 um we had sorry 12 learners who scored at that at risk category and by the time

022we got to third quarter we had reduced that number to four and we also still had that last quarter to really be looking at how are we responding to and supporting those learners. Uh shifting to some celebrations around equity. Uh those of you sitting in the room know how emotional I was about the opportunity to add 27 spots this um past school year that were totally reserved for families that might not have otherwise had access to preschool. And so I'm really proud to say that we had all of those spots filled this past year. Uh we really can look back on a lot of different pieces that we found to be just highlights of making that move forward and making that commitment um for access. And so that really is something we're excited about continuing

023uh looking to this year. We have 25 of those spots filled and we have two more that we're working to fill at this time. Obviously, we'd like to see that continue to increase over time. We feel like it's a step in the right direction, but we're always looking at what what can we do to um even have that number increase. Another piece under the air of equity that we'd like to just touch upon is just we have had a goal year after year to try to have a more diverse staff. We know the importance representation plays in our learning community for all of our students. And so we're excited to say that we're seeing that number of staff that we have, staff of color increase year-over-year. And we know the impact that has on our

024community. And right now, we're looking at how can we continue to just see that just continue to grow as we look to our future. Uh in the way of an academic celebration, I'd have to pause and I'd like to pause and thank Dr. Dickinson who's sitting in the room tonight. she really helped lead the charge with our certified team to just revamp our progress reports and uh look at alignment across age levels and also look at anchoring those progress reports to the Missouri Early Learning Standards. And that's something that we had not had the time or capacity to do in several years. And the very things that allowed that to happen this year was just the addition of the certified staff to be able to work in the summer for stipen work and add to

025um just our focus project and then also the additional work days that we had during the school year that were not always an option at KCC. And so just want to share a way in which we use that additional time and staffing to just really up our game in terms of um just our academic outcomes. moving from celebrations to like what's ahead for us. So, you'll notice on each slide we have one action item for each of the strategic objectives um in alignment with each of our respective programs. Obviously, this is just scratching the surface. We have a whole strategic plan that we're working to pull together as a greater school team across this month, which you'll see at a later date in a more comprehensive way. Tonight, we're just touching up on one item

026on each of the slides to just give you insight into how we see these objectives being focused on and played out in our school setting. First up, I'd really like to highlight the parents as teachers item, which is focusing on increasing the number of parent cafes that happen across the year. We really know the value when small groups of parents can unpack a topic or a developmental aspect of their child's journey together alongside a parent educator. That is a really powerful model for creating a sense of community and connection and embedded support for families. Uh one of our barriers to making this vision possible in prior years has really been some of our spacing limitations. So, we know that this is very important and we just want to step outside of the spaces we have

027available to us traditionally and think where can we have this be a reality. So, we're looking at Powder Valley and some walk-in talks. We're looking at some different community partnerships within our community, the new play cafe that's opening and how we might partner to have space there and have meetup groups there. Um, and really just thinking about what's possible, not letting space be a barrier. So, we're super excited. uh to develop a cadence of activities across the year that you'll see show up on our PAT calendar. Looking at strategic objective 2.1, um would like to really focus on the KECC item of really re-evaluating and reinvisioning our weight list process. We know that year-over-year we've had some families in our community that don't feel as though the weight list is beneficial in its current design

028to them and we can notice some of those impacting factors when we think about families who are new to Kirkwood. Um many of our families already come in saying KCC is not an option for me because I didn't live here when my child was born. Another group is like if you aren't thinking ahead enough when your child's born to put your child on the wait list and you live in Kirkwood, that still is impacting you. And then when we think about birth dates, obviously our cut point for our school year starting is August 1. So, just if you have a kiddo who has an August 2nd birthday, uh, compared to someone who has a late summer birthday or late spring birthday, the opportunity to access KECC, even if you put your child on the wait

029list at the time he or she is born really diminishes as the um, birth date falls later in that school year. And we really just want to take a long and hard look at our process. How can it be improved? How can we work to make it more equitable for our whole community? and really just reconsider that process. Looking to strategic objective 3.3, uh we are going to highlight the KECC item again. Um we know that the greatest gift at KCC is teaming and one of the greatest challenges is teaming. So we put adults in spaces in groups of two, three, four to work alongside one another all day long from the time they arrive until their day wraps up making decisions for kids, supporting individual programming. And we really know and understand um the

030aspects of teaming that can be complicated. And we're trying to really think through a multi-tered system of support much like we have for our students of what are our universals or tier one supports for our teams. What are our universals for what do we do differently for our teams who are brand new teams to KECC? What do we do differently to support teams who have a change in membership to make sure that their team health is staying strong across the year? And then how are we putting structures in place to normalize that teams are going to have moments of struggle and how are we putting processes in place to normalize um a way to address those um in a systematic fashion. So we're excited about what might come out of that. And lastly, looking through

031strategic objective 4.1, uh we really know the the impact that strong parent engagement has across all of our programs. Adventure Club is really diving into what else can we be doing during our Adventure Club times to really get more just facetime with our families and have their family members come in and have sidebyside experience with our experiences with our learners. More like play and stay opportunities that happen within program hours or even either extending the on program hours. Last year we did one trial with a STEM event and opportunity and and we found that that was a positive experience for our families and our had the opportunity to just really have conversations and and connection moments with those that attended. So really looking at trying to achieve that on a quarterly basis when we look

032for this year. And then obviously we want to take this time to just thank each of you in this room. The amount of time and energy that you give to supporting us whether we're with our earliest year learners or the kiddos all the way up to seniors at Kirkwood High School. just thank you for your support of us all year long uh in your role as board members and also support of our senior leadership team who just help make us the best we can be for our students. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Dr. Rose. Um we'll start on my right. >> Were playing musical chairs earlier, but thank you for this. This was very uh informative. It's always great to see what our little kids or our little babies are doing. Um,

033couple of things I love to hear about like adventure club that weight list because I know it's come a long way. I know that was one of the things that um, we talked about when I first got on the board. So, it's great to hear that it's significantly decreased in the growth that you guys are seeing um, even with the parents as teachers. And I love the fact that in the wait list um for the actual, you know, for kiddos to actually attend, you're still looking at ways to figure out how you can make it better. And that's what I've noticed just like the patterns of you see an issue or a problem and you're trying to constantly um come up with solutions. And um I also love the MTSS at the staff level. So

034that was pretty um exciting to hear and very like an interesting approach to uh make sure that teachers feel welcomed and a sense of belonging and really thinking through those things to like take a lot of times we take um our staff and even our families outside of the environment in which they're always accustomed to coming to. It kind of boosts that creativity and and people don't necessarily leave jobs because of the work and the hard work that they leave it because of their bosses or because of you know the experience that they're experienced on a daily basis. So I applaud you for um taking that extra step and and helping to build community in your space. So good job. Thank you. >> What's up? >> Yeah. I just um this is my second year

035getting to hear your presentation and for the second year in a row you have brought innovation um real tangible identifying um what you want to accomplish what the goals are and then applying real tangible approaches to try real programs and um it's just something I really appreciate that you can map out here and that you can see you know what you're going after. you are really um I just think a really good example of what I would love to see more of across the district and I appreciate you very much. Thanks >> Anderson. >> You all have been busy. Um I love your presentations always. I love to have you guys come. Um, I really appreciate the way that you look at all aspects of your programming and you really take a very hard look

036at it. You really question what's working, what's not working, and you dive in and you work to figure out how to make it better for kids, staff, family. I mean, it gives me goosebumps that um is true leadership and I just want to thank you guys for that. Um I really like to hear about the impact that um moving the staff to the certified um just that connecting it to the learning standards I think is really really important and beneficial and I want to say thank you um Miss Penny for representing us at a desi level. what um they're lucky to have you. We're lucky to have you. So, um I do have a quick question and this one might we might not we can get this information later, but what percent of of our

037kindergarten kids attend KCC? And I don't expect you to know this off the top of your head, Dr. or anyone for that matter. But I just, you know, as I hear all that you're doing, I just want to kind of have that idea of how many what percent of our kindergarteners are um attending. >> So we Okay, sure. >> I I don't have the total for kindergarten across the district. However, uh in our four or five full day classrooms, we know that we have 20 kiddos joining us and we have five sections. four at KECC and then one at Robinson obviously. >> Okay. >> Um sorry. So that's 100 and 100 kiddos. I apologize. And then our half day classes I don't have their enrollment in front of me in terms of where they ended

038because they fluctuate across the year. >> Sure. >> But historically I think it's been about 20% of kindergarteners. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Because you know you got about 450ish kindergarteners that are coming in. One thing I can say that this team doesn't speak enough about is that Not only do they work on decreasing our weight list and helping students enroll at KCC, but they also work with families if that's not an option and work with the community setting and try to find a match for them regarding preschool and regarding other opportunities. So, we know that there's at least roughly 90% of our students come into kindergarten having some preschool experience, whether that's with KCC or in some cases KCC has helped facilitate a match with another community-based program that lines up. That's the thing that's

039so amazing about you guys. There's it's so multifaceted. It's not just when you think about it like preschool. I mean, you've got, you know, from birth to, you know, like you said, fifth graders. I just really thank you for that. Um, the other thing that I wanted to ask, and again, don't feel like you have to answer this right now, but we have the 27 spots, and I don't know if this is even a if we could figure this out. Um, but do we know like a need for how many spots are needed for for families in need of that? I don't know if we have that ability, but that would also just be kind of something I would be maybe interested in. learning more just to see what we can do to add more

040spots to make sure we're serving as many kids. But I just have to tell you guys, thank you. Thank you. This work is hard and I truly appreciate all that you guys are doing. Keep up the great work. Thank you, >> Miss Pang. >> Perfect. Um, well, I told you this is one of my favorite presentations all year round. Um, similar to last year, the video made me tear up and I think I started crying before you even pressed play, which um because I the video is just so moving. Um, and it really does highlight all of the work in the kids' faces and just the excitement. I love that you worked in families that don't have kids in the district yet that are excited to be pioneers and the students who went through KCC.

041Um, I think it really tells the legacy that you are building in those students. Um, I think last year we saw the after talking about taxes, which was a little nice, but just from a timing standpoint. Um, but again, for the second year in the row, it is so amazing that we don't have a wait list, that you are moving the needle because I remember when my kids were younger, there was a weight list and that was just a really hard thing and very troubling for parents. So, that's really amazing. I'm also really impressed with how you continue to adapt to meet the needs of our youngest learners, especially hearing how are starting to now track right what um the percentage of students we're starting to track things the percentage of students who have increased

042in understanding their rhyming and when we start to watch the needle as they go into kindergarten to Miss Andrew's point in first grade I think that we're going to see those impacts for years to come um and knowing that we're finally tracking it and we're working in PLC's um I am just really excited to see the impacts over the next couple years um and just a couple more things I'm really excited to see what comes out of your brainstorming sessions, you said for discussing the weight list, right? No, we know it's a barrier. We know that parents get anxious about it. Um, and how you're engaging families and adventure club. Those weren't even things that were necessarily on my radar that we could be improving, but to see that you're thinking about it and to

043I'm I'm anxious to see what you come back next year. Um, you know, that that you learn through that process. And then I had the one question that Miss Andrews kind of highlighted. If we have 27 spots that we're meeting right now through scholarships and funds to help those students, what is the actual number? I mean, if it it changes year to year, but how many other students do, you know, could we estimate that really would like to be here and just have those barriers? So, thank you so much. >> I don't have that answer for you this evening, but certainly we'll be thinking of ways that we can gather more data and understand what the need is in our community. I know Penny gets a firsthand look sometimes through our conversations through the Kirkwood

044area every child promise program beyond, you know, like for families that might want a choice elsewhere other than KECC and we really believe in the power of that. Um, having heard that question from the both of you, we'll definitely dive in and see what we can find out uh to just be able to put some data to the question that you're asking about. One of one of the things we're hoping to do this year is just engagement of our community and families in a bigger survey like not just about the barriers of preschool but what are you hoping for the future. One of the pieces we noted this year was uh a lot of we to we had the opportunity to tour 15 to 17 families who weren't really ready for preschool in the two-year-old

045and we know when they pause on accepting that opportunity, there's not often an opportunity later on. And so we just want to really look at a lot of those different pieces on what are our families hoping KCC looks like and continuing to adapt to what our community need is and reflect that and how we move forward. So, we'll work together some of that data. >> Thank you, Miss Neoth. >> Yeah, thanks. Um, I would probably echo a lot of um what my fellow board members have mentioned, you know, congratulations on the really important victories that you all have worked hard to achieve. Um, and just want to underscore, you know, as we've talked about getting the weight list down and having these community events, engaging families is just so important to making everyone feel part

046of the Kirkwood community out of the gate. I know a couple of weeks ago we were talking through some of the strategic planning um results from last year as well as what we're looking forward to for this year across the district and one of the metrics that was a little disappointing in my mind was the sense of belonging that some of our families felt like and really embedding that at the foundational level when they first entered the district is amazing. So, I would even just highlight I don't I don't think you had the opportunity to highlight it, but just some of the activities that you all have in the building and in the fields um to welcome people into the buildings and the community really set an important foundation for making people feel like they

047belong both the students and the families. So, really thank you for taking the for your leadership in that space and taking the initiative to really get those those programs running. Um I do want to um ask one quick question. Um, so I know we talked a little bit about the impact that adding certified staff to the team has really allowed you to help increase the focus on hat to call it academic achievement but kind of right like the progress that our children are making in learning. Um, can you talk a little bit for those who might not be as familiar with the distinction between certified and non-certified staff what that looks like at KECC and at is it ESCE? Um, just like what does that day look like for them and how does that those

048times for them to focus on other metrics. >> Sure. Um, in our ECSE program, we have had certified staff in that program since it started here in Kirkwood. And in that space, it looks like a certified teacher who's certified in early childhood special education leading programming from 8:30 to 11:30 each day alongside two EC educators, which are support staff positions. And they also repeat a session in the afternoon, 12:30 to 3. And that team of three really works to implement programming for the number of students that are in their respective age levels. And then when we look to the new shift which was in our full day classrooms, last year was the first year we added the certified positions in the 3, four and four five classrooms and we have a team of two educators

049in that space. One of them works a 10-hour day and the other works um comes in 7 to 5:30. The second educator comes in and works 7:30 to 4. And then the certified staff member arrives and works 9 to 4:45. And so that team of three really are the ones delivering the instruction to our students to facilitate small groups to navigate the routines of the day to be able to um lead like whole group instruction obviously all the different parts and pieces and then individualize with interventions. So the team of three at the three, four, and four, five age level have 20 students in their classroom. And so they really work to optimize the instructional experience for each of those kiddos. And then the certified staff member has a 50-minute plan time a day. And

050then we have that one day a week where we're meeting as an age level PLC. >> That's great. That's amazing. Um and just want to underscore, I think, the importance of that really instructional learning that you've been able to really weave in and emphasize over the last couple of years. Um so I know that not obviously helps set the kids up for success from a academic standpoint, but also grows their confidence so much. I'll never forget my kids swearing up and down that they weren't ready for North Glendale because they heard that they had to count to 100. And of course, I said, "Don't worry, they'll get you there. They'll get you there." And sure enough, they knew that right away. So, um, that confidence, I still remind them of that when they get nervous

051about things even into high school. So, um, that you guys really set them up for success in that way. So, thank you and thank you for continuing to ex extend that to all of our families in our community. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. No comment or questions or comments for me. I think the uh other board members covered everything. Um just on behalf of the board, thank you. Um we've talked a lot about strategic plan goals the last several weeks and months and uh just know that we all recognize that the work that you guys do set the foundation for every single goal that we're striving towards as a district. So, thank you. Please pass that on to your staff and uh we appreciate the presentation tonight. Dr. Rupus, I think you had

052something to say. >> Yeah. So, one, um, Dr. Rose spoke to engaging the larger community this year, both around the weight list as well as around the programming. Are we meeting our family's needs? And Miss Neman, you mentioned strategic plan. And I think we have a great opportunity as we do that work this year to align those two things. Um, if we believe we have the best option for our families in the community around early childhood education, which I do, for families that would choose to bring their students here, we really are limited to the number of students, additional students we can serve in the current confines of um, the program. They have maximized every bit of space in the school. Um, and any true expansion would involve capital investment on behalf of the district

053and then bringing along the rest of the resources. and we just need to decide as a school community if we want to invest in that to offer early childhood education to more families um what that's going to look like. And so I think we have a great opportunity this fall um not just to emotionally make that decision but to look at a lot of data and determine if we did have additional classrooms could we fill them um and not just in the next year or two but for the long term. So I think it's a great opportunity to look at all that together. So Dr. Rose, Miss Han, Miss Blasowitz, Miss Chastain, thank you um for the work that you do each and every day. >> Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome to stay for

054the tax rate hearing, but we understand if you would like to get home to your families. Um, >> thank you. >> You're welcome. You're welcome to stay. >> If not, have a nice evening. >> Okay, moving on. Uh, item 3.02, preliminary tax information. Dr. Rumpus, did you have anything before we turn it to uh, Mr. Cook? You're on. That hurts hurts my feelings. Everybody's getting to leave. So, >> well, when I found out I was going to have to go after early childhood, I thought about setting the whole thing to Sarah McGlaughlin in the background, but it didn't come together in time. So, we'll just we'll just uh kind of wade through. We're good to go. Okay. Okay. So, uh want to just touch on some key topics as we move forward tonight. the the

055things that we'll be discussing and looking at that just the tax rate process and most of you are not new to this and some of this will be review but I know there are some new faces in the room who maybe haven't been through this process before uh so we're going to talk about the tax rate process in general the Hancock amendment and its impact on local taxing entities just some general information and then we'll dive into the numbers we have so far on preliminary assessed values a report on recruitment um preliminary tax rates and projected revenue that coming from those prelim preliminary rates and then give just some local comparison to the districts around us and some historical perspective as well and then finish up talking a little bit about where we're at with

056debt service. So, uh the the work that we have done to this point that you're seeing tonight is is based on uh AV data that was released in early July. Uh the final AV numbers are going to supposed to be released by September 15th. I think that they have to. So, we should be able to get that information by uh se September 15th. We would expect that to go down just a bit. Usually, the longer it goes, the it trickles downward. It's certainly not going to go up. So, we would expect those to be a little lower, but not dramatically. So, the picture that you see tonight are is going to be really close to what the final uh tax rate would would be. Um process that that we go through there is uh we

057we would get those numbers. We would do the calculations. We would submit that to the auditor's office for review. Uh they would send back to us. We would certify that then at the board level or approve that the board level and then resubmit to the auditor's office for certification. That's all due to happen by October 1st. So uh obviously we would use the 20 meeting on the 22nd to finish uh this process back to the board for final approval. So the calculations that you see tonight and that we'll have on that night are really governed by a law that passed a constitutional amendment passed in 1980, the Hancock Amendment. I used to go to church with Mel Hancock, interestingly enough. And so it's always had a special place for me, the Hancock Amendment. Really random

058fact about me, I guess. But um so that the Hancock amendment puts limits on how much taxing revenue uh how much a taxing uh entity can add to their revenue uh by linking it to the CPI to the consumer price index. So we we have this cap that is placed on us as a local taxing entity that we can't grow faster than certain metrics that are used to measure that and we're going to touch on that in the next slide. So, so this year the CPI set for the state of Missouri at 2.9%. So, you're going to see really quickly that everything else was growing faster than that. So, 2.9% CPI is going to govern the amount of revenue we're able to add this year. And Hancock Amendment seems limiting to those local jurisdictions, but

059there's some protections in there for us as well. Uh we we would only ever have to drop our revenue to the previous year's revenue. we can increase rates if assessments go down below what the previous year was. We can make sure that we're not losing that revenue. So that while the Hancock amendment primarily exists to protect local taxpayers, it also in some ways protects those those jurisdictions as well. Hancock amendment permits the increase from reassessment equal to the lowest of those three metrics you see there. So uh we're required to use the lowest of those those metrics. Uh 5% is the most we could ever grow in a year. Um we will see in a few slides that our AV went up a lot this year. It it it went up a lot almost historically.

060So uh we're going to see that it grew more than 16% this year. So that number is super high. Um CPI this year again is 2.9%. So this year's growth in revenue is governed by that that 2.9% increase in CPI. Uh the district can always uh capture all of that new revenue that's attached to new construction. And uh for this year uh our new construction AV was a little over 19 million. That's going to be just under $700,000 to the district about $694,000 that we get from new construction and we are able to always capture that amount. We we're fortunate to live in a community that seems to be expanding all the time and and so the new construction is always a contributor to our financial perspective annually. It seems like I know that's pretty

061small and and maybe by design, right? The residential tax bill for the Kirkwood School District. This is 2024 rates. Just just wanted to use this and I know Mike has used this in the past to to show uh some perspective about where your taxes go uh when you pay those in in the Kirkwood School District. So, um, really I think this slide and the next one provide some perspective to the board and the community of just the importance of property taxes uh, in Kirkwood and in districts all across the state of Missouri. Uh, more than 55% of all residential property tax come to KSD. So, while we didn't design that system, uh it's really our lifeblood and and it's part of I know this ongoing discussion and we're going to touch on that in the

062next slide too of just uh the the balance that comes from property tax for residents. Uh it is by design by the by the way that school funding was set up just just really an important piece of what we do here. The by far the most important piece of the revenue that we recognize. So 85% of our revenue comes from local tax. So this is mostly property tax. Proposition C falls in this as well. Uh it's categorized as a local tax. So falls under that local revenue umbrella. Um so you can see that that overwhelmingly this is the most important piece of the pie for us is the the conversation we're having tonight and we'll have again on the on the 22nd. So, I would encourage you as we as we transition here into the

063the rates and revenues that we have preliminarily said, uh, as you may have seen and heard, there's, uh, this this legislative committee has just wrapped up a statewide tour on the discussion of property tax and really hearing from residents as to the future of property taxes in the state of Missouri. and and uh this was coming on the heels of Senate Bill Three, which was attached to the stadium funding bill out of Kansas City, but there were some significant limitations placed on certain senatorial districts across the state of Missouri by Senate Bill 3. Dramatic change to the way that uh property taxes would be assessed and collected. Now, St. Louis County chose not to participate in that, but many counties across the state did choose to to participate in that. The legality of that is

064in question and I think already uh there's been some lawsuits filed in opposition of Senate Bill 3. But I think what it demonstrates is there's an appetite appetite statewide for another look at how property taxes impact local residents. And I think it's imperative on us in the school district and as a board to watch that and monitor that as we head into uh session in January. There's there's no doubt going to be legislation introduced based on the the tour that's recently completed and th those those things would impact us uh significantly as those changes are made. So would would encourage you and certainly I and Dr. Rumpus will be keeping an close eye on Jefferson City in the in the months to come as that that seems to be a real push >> and I

065think an opportunity for us to advocate in this space as public education officials and as a board. Um it may be great at some point to revisit the property tax mechanism. That needs to be done though in conjunction with re-examining public school funding of education in the state. um to do one without the other would have disastrous impacts for us as well as for other communities. Um and so I I think that we can always look at an opportunity to change that, but we need to push so that happens at the same time that the state would look at how they're funding public schools. >> And I think that that is some of the push back against Senate Bill 3 is there were these arbitrary counties that chose to participate and and not and so

066there wasn't a uniform approach and really as Dr. Rumpus made reference to no um new revenue to offset the the loss in revenue that would occur and so could be devastating. I think that the that this conversation in conjunction with the formula potential formula rewrite uh really would just be incumbent upon all of us to pay attention to Jeff City and what's going on there in the in the coming weeks. So uh we we'll head into the numbers that we have so far uh as we prepare to set the tax rate here at the end of September. So this chart is going to show assessed property values that were released over the summer and July. Uh we I know Mike reported way back in March on those initial numbers. So they were a little higher

067than these and I would expect these to be a little higher than the numbers that we'll see on September 15th, but as of now you'll you'll see very large increases in the assessed value of residential and commercial. Uh we actually saw some small decreases. really the agricultural piece is such a small part of the puzzle for us that those numbers can look big and a and a 37% decrease there or I think yeah 37.15 um it it it looks dramatic but it's really a very small amount of revenue when it comes to the impact on the overall budget but you see the 19.5% increase in residential values 15% plus in commercial a little bit of a reduction there in personal property so this is the second year in a row that personal property uh assessed

068values have gone down here in Kirkwood School District. And it seems as though in in visiting with others around the area that this is just a correction on some values that really took off in 2022 after COVID, you saw this massive spike in personal property values and there's this ongoing correction over time. I think that's bringing that back to more reasonable assessed values. And so, uh, these are the the numbers that were used then to build up on the tax rates. Wanted to throw in a slide. I did this at the last minute. Uh, kind of like an archaeological dig going through Mike's spreadsheets to find what I'm looking for, but I found this uh this morning and wanted to throw that in that this is the second largest uh increase in assessed value dating

069back to 1994. Uh so 31 years we're seeing that the 2025 values is is a huge increase for us and that takes into account a decrease in personal property too. So if we had seen even a a small increase probably would have been one of the larger if not the largest that we had seen. So uh just just putting in perspective uh what the what we're seeing in in the values of commercial and residential businesses across Kirkwood school district and really St. county al together. My pages are stuck together. Okay. So, uh the next slide is going to talk a little bit about recruitment. And again, for those of you who are veterans to the board, you probably have a good grasp on what this means. Uh as a new uh resident of St. Louis

070County and a new person in this position. I I'm not as familiar with recruitment as as maybe even you are. I've been digging into that over the last month. Uh that's been something that Mike has been very proactive about and we want to keep that going. That's a valuable piece of the funding perspective here for for Kirkwood schools. Uh property tax recruitment is this mechanism we have uh that that taxing entities have to to recoup loss revenue from a prior year. So uh taxpayers all the time are appealing their assessed values to the board of equalization and then moving that on to the state tax commission as sort of the final say. And and as that process plays out, a lot of times as they're successful, those values come down and that impacts the levies

071that we were allowed to uh use in in previous years. So as those assessed valuations drop, uh we we would actually be able to institute a recruitment levy to regain some of that uh revenue that we lost. So think of it as what we're getting ready to to talk about how CPI limited or assessed value maybe limits the growth. If we had incorrect numbers back then then it would have given us an incorrect levy. As these uh amounts are adjusted then we have used incorrect numbers to set those levies. We can go back in time and recoup that. It's a one-time levy. It falls off at the end of that year and then you move on to the next year and and take a look at all those. Luckily for me, uh there are decisions

072made all the way all the way back to 2019 this year. So I have six years worth of data to comb through and uh we we put those numbers together and send them to the state auditor's office last week expecting to hear back hopefully this week on on the the work that was done. Uh I also turned my work into Mike and he graded it for me and it seemed like it looked okay too. So appreciate his help through that process too. It's it's a very worthwhile process when it comes to local funding, but it is super complicated. So, as you can see in FY25, almost a million dollars in recruitment revenue and those tax adjustments. So, feel like for our our students and staff, it's a worthwhile process and hoping to get those that

073that word back sooner rather than later because according to Mike, it's often a back and forth with the auditor to get those uh those numbers exactly right. So, we're waiting on that. the numbers you're going to see moving forward in the slides coming up will not have any recruitment included in there. So, while we expect AV to possibly go down just a bit, we would also expect probably to be able to add some recruitment money to that and maybe even that out over time. So, here are the preliminary tax rates based on the assessed values we have at this point. Again, waiting for those to come in. And these are based on uh a 2.9% CPI. uh these are the preliminary rates we have. So the combination of that strong growth in AV that 16%

074increase uh paired with the 2.9% uh cap it's it's leading to as you can see some pretty significant reductions in that residential tax rate and the commercial tax rate and overall our blended tax rate as well. So, if you think about uh the the limits that you have on recovering that revenue, the tax levy is what is going to modify that and moderate that. And so, uh it's going to roll way back this year, 2.7658. I'd remind you that 2.75 is the lowest allowable levy in the state of Missouri for operating. So boards can override that, but uh districts all across rural Missouri will often raise their levy up to 275 or or use that as a a stop gap because that's as low as we're constitutionally allowed to go. So we're rolling way back

075this year in response to those value increases so taxpayers don't have a a burden that's above and beyond what Hancock amendment would allow. So, our maintenance and technology leveies would be set at 12.5 cents under this this view here. And so, we'd expect that to be pretty consistent with the numbers that we get coming up. So, uh the revenue that we would hope to and expect to generate uh is on this this next slide here. So, uh I think that you got the most updated I had a math error on this and so hopefully you have this this I think is the most accurate uh version and so hopefully you have that as well. So under under the AV numbers we mentioned on the previous slide the the maximum revenue to which we're entitled is

076uh 76,779,485. So we typically will use a 97% collection rate to make sure that we're not overextending ourselves budget-wise. And so what you see reflected there on the first column is 744761 176 that is 97% of the revenue to which we're entitled using those earlier earlier numbers. So if we uh exclude debt service that's what we're expecting to receive there. And as you can see it's a little bit above what was projected for the FY26 budget. So, that's always a good thing, right? Uh we have a budget set and the revenue we're expecting to come in in excess of what the budget was. Um wouldn't see any reason to expect that to go down below that le levy or that level. If we compare to last year, we're looking at nearly a $2 million increase

077when it comes to that operating side from what we had last year. So, that pretty much would reflect that CPI limitation that that we talked about. So just for perspective too here, just wanted to take a look at residential tax rates by district using 2024 numbers. Uh it's a good time, I think, to point out that the residential tax rate as it compares to to to surrounding districts that Kirkwood is second from the bottom there. This is based on last year's numbers. So we just talked about how much that is going to go backward. I would expect that to happen in other districts as well, probably included. I think everybody's going to see their AVs go way up. And so that that increase is going to happen. But if you look at the 22 area

078district shown here, Kirkwood is the second lowest residential levy. So I think that's good perspective for us as administrators and board members and the and the public that although we no one likes to pay property taxes, but as far as we compare this to our neighbors, uh it's still a pretty good spot to be when we compare those those things there. Uh this is the slide that I want to update uh because the the last blue column there is is incorrect is actually should be shorter. Uh our residential tax rate for the coming year is going to be 30358. So even even shorter than that as we look at that historical perspective um if we compare the tax rates we see there dating all the way back to 1994 this will be the lowest residential

079tax levied in Kirkwood school district. So um again in response to that that huge increase in assessed value. So, uh, last slides we have here are in relation to Prop R and, uh, the the schedule that we have to to pay those debts that we undertook in in 2021. Uh, what you see here is that there'll be two interest payments made in FY26, uh, totaling 739,625 and then the principal amount there totaling about 5.7 million, almost 5.8 U. I'm sorry, 5.7 million there. So, we see here on the next slide that that we're going to be in in good shape, it looks like to to easily make those payments and have a bit of a balance in fund three as we begin to think about in the next probably two years. Uh we'll have an

080opportunity most likely to pay that debt down even faster than what our schedule would allow for as that revenue continues to outpace our uh obligations there. we would we would likely recommend that we just continue to pay that debt down even quicker than we had planned as as that levy catches up. So, last last page here, just just a couple of things here as we summarize and uh to to keep with you as we head into the meeting on the 22nd. Again, the second largest increase in property assessed values dating back to my junior year in high school, which was a long time ago. So, it's a it's a historical time in the district for that. Uh and this is in spite of these two consecutive years of decline in personal property uh historically low

081residential tax rate. So the burden necessarily is is is not reducing too much for our patrons because of the assessed value increase but the rate is coming down and to help compensate for that. So again we're expecting St. Louis County to release those numbers on the 15th. We're hoping for that evaluation, possibly even approval of recruitment calculations expected this week hopefully and if certainly next week if not and then we'll be bringing those final recommendations on the the meeting for the 22nd. Uh any questions that you think I probably know the answer to? That's the only caveat I would give. >> Let's see. Miss Neman, >> thank you. I appreciate you walking through that, especially as the in the group. Um you can guess I would have questions um that I think it's helpful for

082us to walk through especially for those who might be viewing it either now or in the future. Um, of course, um, taxes are a huge, um, a huge topic and as you mentioned earlier, the legislative climate, I think the climate of the community, the the country and the world really is just being really attuned to um, you know, some of the economic strikes that people will be going through both now and in the future. So, it's always important for us to make sure that we're um, thinking about the taxpayer um, in addition to thinking about what the district needs. So, couple of process questions. Um, one what I'm hearing you kind of describe is that we have a the AV rats the AV rates are kind of set by the state, right? The assessed value

083amounts like people's own personal like property like residential rates and things like that are set by the state. >> It's actually actually set by the county. So the county assessor uh will issue those uh those valuations for homes and cars and land and commercial and all those things. And so that's that's what comes from from the local assessor. Yes. >> Got it. Thank you. But the it's the state auditor that kind of verifies. >> Yeah. What the state auditor will say is they'll set the CPI amount and they'll say so we're seeing this effect on prices and folks income across the state. So so those two things can work and should work hand inand where as those assessed valuations go go up oftent times it means CPI is playing an impact as well and will

084help limit some of those taxation implications there. So, so CPI set by the auditor and they'll eventually approve our levy. Uh the assessed valuations are coming out of the assessor's office here in St. Louis County. So, and people argue with them all the time. That's where these recruitment numbers come from. So, >> so what my ultimate question, what I was trying to get at is to understand the degree of um decision making authority that we have here as the board. Is it to set the assessed levy percentage? It at CPI. Is that what we're deciding or we I'm trying to gauge. Do we have our hands tied in? >> A lot of this is pretty prescriptive in nature with what we receive. It it certainly is. I think the decisions that we make are are

085more often in regards to debt service and the bond issues that we go out for. Um, you know, we have this budget that's driving the district u staffing and programming and uh we we react to the numbers that we get from the assessor's office and uh there while there is some opportunity for the board I think to always set those rates um I think that there is a pretty fair mechanism in place and I think when you compare with our levy compared with other area districts that the board is done a good job of making that balance. So, but but I think it it I think to answer your question most directly is it's it's it's pretty prescriptive what we get. Uh there's a calculator that's seven or eight different sheets long and 60 lines

086each that you plug the numbers in and then the auditor tells you based on those numbers, here's what you're allowed to do. Yeah. >> And uh that's typically what we do. >> Okay. Thanks. So, they're kind of checking checking your math essentially. And I think I think that's I think that's important for people to be aware of is that a lot of is set by the county, set by the state in terms of CPI rate. Um, and so while we are going to be reviewing and approving this as a as a board, it's something that it's pretty prescriptive. So while these rates are going up, I know the assessed values as you mentioned are going up a lot and it's sticker shock to see that there is some limitation in the amount of absolutely range

087that we have here. So you you respect that Hancock amendment in this case of as people do get that sticker shock from their assessed values, they can take a little bit of solace in the fact that our our levy is not going to achieve all of that revenue. It's going to roll back and try to to limit the impact on our taxpayers uh and in sort of compensation for that. I think the larger discussion is really back to doc Dr. 's earlier point of is this the best method by which we should fund our schools and so that I think it's a worthwhile conversation to have is property taxation the best way to fund schools but you can't have that conversation without the second pillar of okay what will we do if we don't use

088this and so I think as as I'm certain you as board members hear about the implications of the the new assessed values that that you can think about how uh that conversation at the state level is going on too and and how we might replace that revenue. >> So it's a bigger picture conversation across the state across maybe the country that needs to be considered. It's not a Kirkwood school board. >> Yeah. Yeah. I can promise you as as a longtime district level leader if there was any other mechanism than property taxes to fund school districts, I'm on board because uh it's a hard conversation to have and I come from a rural district, you know, working with a lot of agricultural and farmer folks whose incomes are tight and those are hard conversations to

089have and it's no different in a district like this. Very difficult conversations when you think about the tax impact on top of all of the other taxes that we're paying. So, uh I think we do have to be mindful of that, but at the same time, we also have to be mindful of what's good for the district and our our students as well. So, >> great. Thank you. >> Yep. That's very helpful. Thank you. And then just one other quick question. Um so, then we have the district prepared to ensure that we can maximize kind of this historical spike that you know we've seen we see here back to your what junior high yeah junior and high school days. Um how do we think forward not just about this coming year of okay this is

090going to increase our income um by $2 million. >> Um is there a way that we can set ourselves up for success in the long term where we might have years where we might have a dip or decline? Yes, I think that's true. And and of course, Hancock allows us to not take a cataclysmic effect if if assessed valuations started to go down, you're able to to capitalize on whatever it was the previous year. U I I do think uh that that's always a push and pull, right, of those staffing questions and those programming questions and and a lot of times those difficult conversations are more on the expenditure side than the revenue side because oftentimes the revenue side is what it is. So once you have that complete picture, then the conversation often more

091centers around the expenditure side of okay, how can we set ourselves up for success by making sure that we have the right amount of staffing and the right amount of revenue devoted to each of these different programs that we have. And so the district's in a very healthy position uh fund balance-wise and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. I didn't include that slide tonight, but plan to for the 22nd. Thought that it would be are helpful to have that fund balance history coming uh with the real numbers that we get. But uh certainly the district's in a healthy position and I think how we would set ourselves up for success is to continue to uh evaluate our expenses as much as possible and and be uh very cognizant of of what the revenue

092may be continued to look like into the future. >> Thank you for your thoughtful responses and for bearing with me on >> Sure. No, no problem. >> Elementary questions. >> Thank you. >> Well, that was fun. So, you did make >> There you go. >> So, um >> and I cried. I cried while I was making it if that makes you feel any better. >> We all had tears. Okay. >> Um so, I did really appreciate the historical property assessed value slide. I don't know if that's something that I remember seeing. Um and you know, again, with all of the discussions on tax rates and we've had we had to, you know, we had a range that we were looking at. Um, and our board >> chose the lower end of that range multiple occasions.

093Um, I think that was really important. Um, and you had mentioned during our strategic planning session that you wanted to do some education on some of this. So, I would love to see that as part of that education. >> Sure. >> Um, you did say um, and I'll just go back slides 13 and 14 favorites. Um, you did that um our collection percentage you you estimated at 97%. >> Historically, have we been up to after we get the recruitment at 98 99%. >> Yeah. And that would be something I would have to go back historically and look at. U almost almost exclusively across the state, superintendent are are pretty conservative folks. So the 97% is is usually undershooting what you get. And then you always have a certain amount of delinquent taxes as well. So

094what you missed out on the previous year often getting paid late and so you end up with that revenue. Now we we will use usually the previous budget year to predict delinquent taxes for the next year and then set that rate at 97% too. So uh you're trying to be as conservative as possible while also taking into account those things. So, uh, I would I would have to go back. I wouldn't want to give you a number that's wrong, but I would say typically it's it's in excess of 97%. That's pretty conservative, >> I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Okay, that's helpful. >> Um, and then just a comment in past years, I think when we've talked about the tax rates, we've given an example of like a house in $450,000. Here's what their rates would have

095been last year. Here's what they would just give that example. and I always found that really helpful. So, >> yeah, I I will throw that in at the next one, too. I have I have that on one of my spreadsheets. >> All right, >> I'll go back and find it. >> Oh, yeah. The the the column on the right. You're right. Yeah, it does have that. >> We've shown it as an actual example. I'm looking at team Marie because I know she knows what I'm talking about where it's like we actually >> it's pulled out and use it as an example which is really helpful because people have literally taken screen pictures of that. I'll pull that column out and just make it its own its own thing. Perfect. That's easy. Okay. Thank you. >>

096Miss Andrew, >> um, thank you for all this hard work and for diving in and really um, you know, working hard on this. Um I think it's important that historically um we have you know because we rely so heavily on um the the property and you know the reassessment um that that's really how we kind of get you know get an increase right? >> Sure it is. Yeah. Because because it's not typically coming from the formula. Yeah. >> Exactly. So my I guess one of the things that I always caution us on is that if we see years where we don't have that increase um that can we that's where your budget and your programming and all of that really um is important. And so I just really appreciate that you're you're having that um

097kind of mindset now. um and always so that um we're always being really critical and looking and evaluating our um program needs, our staffing and that kind of thing. Um so that we're just being really fiscally responsible with our tax dollars. Um >> and and I would give credit not not just to the board but to Mr. Rome because that's been his vision certainly of >> uh >> I I think conservative is a good way of putting it but also when when the opportunity was there to invest in students and staff he wasn't also afraid to recommend that. So >> right it's a balance strategic I think absolutely >> um and so I feel like since I guess I worry that since we've had you know a pretty big increase like you know you know,

098in the future, what is that going to look like for um like kind of projecting out? I just want to make sure that we're not >> um you know facing >> so sort of overextending. Exactly. Yeah. I think I think that comes back to kind of what we were talking about in the expenditure side. Control the things that we can control and be mindful of that. But again, uh, >> it felt very good coming here because super good financial position that the district is currently in. >> Absolutely. >> That's a product, I think, of some of that conservative mindset of let's spend when it makes sense and be conservative when it when it doesn't. And and so I think >> I think that leads to the position that the district is in. >> Yeah, for

099sure. I think your point though to be cautious exists because even though these the property value increases is the second highest ever. The increase in revenue is a little less than 2 million but our overall staff salary and benefit increases last year was about 2.4 million. So while it is an increase because of the limit of this the Hancock amendment um it's not that we're realizing unlimited increase in funds. And back to Miss Neman's point that's where our strong fund balance comes into place that we ended just under 50%. Um, but that could change in just a matter of a couple of years. >> Exactly. And you you can quickly outpace yourself, right? >> Um, and so I just want to make sure that we are mindful of that. So I I really appreciate that.

100Um, and then to the 97% collection rate, I I also appreciate kind of that that um conser conservative approach to that. Um, and oftentimes what Mr. Rome would come back um and you know well things are things came in better you know so um so we'll get updates on that I think that as the collections come in um we'll get we get kind of updates >> and and December January are huge months for those >> huge yeah um >> and then the other thing that I just wanted to ask and you might not know this but so with Senate Bill three, St. Louis County opted out, right? So, I mean that >> I we were kind of lucky in that regard because there are some counties that that >> are really limited. It's really limiting

101their >> the county that I left was a 0% increase property taxes frozen at >> actually last year's level pre- reassessment. So, >> exactly >> difficult. So, I think that with that in mind, um, we also need to be really thinking about if other changes could be coming to impact us. >> But my question is is with Senate Bill 3, and I can also look into this, does St. Louis County have another opportunity to opt in or opt out, or is that opportunity >> That is a that is a great question. That was a law that was passed about 1:00 in the morning, I think. And so as they were trying to hammer out that agreement, I'm not sure that they put a mechanism in there for the future. But I would be surprised if

102there wasn't a way for that to come up because all of these are elections even in those counties, right? They uh all they're required to do is put it on the ballot, >> right? And so for for board members, I think it's really important for us to understand what this Senate Bill three means. And that I mean in some of the counties that um that were an optin or I don't know the correct terminology. >> Um they literally will not see an increase in their revenue. So even if their expenditures increase with just even cost of living kind of stuff, they will not see an increase in their revenue. And so >> every increase they will have is going to be the result of a new levy increase. They'll have to go to voters every

103time they need more revenue. And that puts I think districts in a really difficult spot with their patrons as well, right? you're back asking for another tax increase where where the Hancock amendment I think is a protection that is working well in St. Louis County and was I think working pretty well across the state but uh it didn't didn't seem to go so well that day in Jefferson City. >> Well, and I just know that you and Dr. us um and your team um as you've said tonight are committed to being you know um responsible with staffing programming and that kind of thing and so that is going to to to be important. So I just want to thank you for all this and we'll keep this conversation going. >> It kind of never ends.

104>> I have actually one more question. So with the contest, you know, homeowners can contest their their product. >> So um sometimes um Mr. Rome would be able to find out like the number of people that were contesting. >> Yeah. >> Um you know, because when you have a record number of or a record setting increase, >> that often leads to more Ed. Um, >> I I'll work on that. >> Yeah. No, no, no. And it, you know, >> there was 116 decisions made this year by the state tax commission dating back to 2019. >> It's amazing that it's backlog. You know, you don't think of it, but yeah, you're backlogged all the way. >> And there was actually a number of 2025 that had already been ruled upon, but it's reflected in these numbers

105already. Okay. >> Luckily for me, I didn't have to do the math on those, but uh so no doubt it plays out over years the the arguments that go on and >> Right. And I think when you see more of an increase, you see also more of contested >> for sure. Yeah. >> Thank you so much. >> Oh, okay. It looks like Senate Bill 3 was written in such a way that it didn't include St. Louis County. So, it's not that St. Louis County made a decision, it's that the bill did not include >> Oh, they kind of carved them out. >> The the senator representing this area made a decision. I think >> Yeah, I I think that's >> so the um so the county can't change its mind. The law is written as

106such that the county is not included. >> Okay. So, then it they would have to Okay. But it is something that I think is so important and I really appreciate that you guys are aware and on top of. >> I think there's a pretty strong likelihood this that's going to be found unconstitutional and then a next wave will come and so that's I think probably more likely what we need to be prepared for. Okay, thanks so much. >> Separate. >> So, one thing that's not exactly related to this, but as I think about things like windfalls or happy years where we get miraculous gifts, I would like to eventually someday, not tonight, understand if we have an investment strategy and what we do and how that works. Um, >> I would like have more information

107on that. Not tonight. >> Yeah. >> Um >> and we we actually have that on the radar for a future work session. >> Fabulous. I'm really interested in that topic. >> Good. Good. >> Um and then the only other thing I was going to say is that I find your personality and presentation skills to be delightful and you make hearing about taxes very bearable. Thank you. I >> I'll take that as a compliment. Thank Thank you. Sure. Oh, good. Okay, great. Um, nothing from me. Thank you. We look forward to seeing the final >> Thank you. >> numbers as we work through the process. So, um, all right, moving along. Uh, item 4.01, just for information, the communications plan. So, would encourage all board members to take a look at that. Um, that will be

108an action item on the 22nd. Correct. Okay. Um, so please take a look at that. If you have any questions, uh, move those forward. Item 4.02, future events. Um, September 12th, we will have a community conversation, open event with, uh, Dr. Rumpus, your team as well. Correct. Um, they're invited. >> I told them this first toend. >> We don't want to exclude them, but um, please plan to join us before the home football game. I believe we're starting at 5. Great. Yep. Uh this weekend, kind of a big event in Kirkwood with the Green Tree Festival. So, we'll have the parade on the 13th, September 22nd, like we talked about, the board tax rate hearing and business meeting, and then another large event that we take a lot of pride in on the 30th of

109September with Unified Nights. So, please put that on your calendars. So, I believe that is it. So, we will adjourn. Thank you, everybody.