Festus R-6 School District residents will pay nearly the same tax rate this year as last after the district’s Board of Education set the new rate at its Sept. 17 meeting.
Board members voted 6-0 to set the Festus R-6 overall tax rate at $3.9901 per $100 assessed valuation for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, which started on July 1 and ends on June 30, 2027. Board member Brent Abrams did not attend the meeting.
At this time last year, the board set a rate of $3.9831 per $100 assessed valuation for the 2025-2026 school year.
But, while the local tax money generated for public education remains practically unchanged, what public school districts get from the state looks like it is going to take a hit, Superintendent Nicki Ruess told the board.
“They (the state board of education) did not recommend to the governor’s office the full budget amount to fully fund the formula,” Ruess said. “There is no action that needs to be taken (by the board), but it is definitely going to have impact for us as we continue down the road.”
She added, “It is definitely going to have an impact not just on us but public school districts across the state.”
In a split vote, the Missouri State Board of Education on Sept. 15 declined to seek a roughly $300 million increase to fully fund the state’s public school funding formula next year.
The board voted 4-4 on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s proposed budget.
The tie vote meant the state board will request that the state Legislature earmark the same amount of money that school districts are receiving this fiscal year, rather than make up for the shortfall.
Districts receive amounts of money from the state determined by a formula set in state law. In 2024, lawmakers approved increasing the formula’s cost with the changes being phased in over several years.
Ruess told her board members that the state Board of Education’s decision not to pursue all the funding available will be felt by public schools this fiscal year, as well as the next one.
“Fiscal year 27 – so 26-27 school year – that’s where we had the $190 million shortfall, which we already talked about that,” she said. “We’re living that right now. Then, next year, for 27-28, which would be fiscal year 28, there’s an additional $110 million they’re not asking for. That’s what the (state Board of Education) decided not to ask for that amount of money. So, the projected cumulative gap is this $300 million. I just want you to be aware of that, because that does have impact on every public school district in the state of Missouri.”
She said when coupled with Gov. Mike Kehoe’s executive order for the state Department of Education to begin assigning letter grades to the performance of districts, public school district leaders face a daunting task to meet state educational goals without a fully funded formula.
“Higher expectations require accurate measures and an honest commitment to fund public schools, and that’s kind of the issue we’re having now – more mandates, no funding,” she said.
She noted that Kehoe’s executive order for an A through F grading system, not yet implemented, will be in addition to the existing school district rating system, the Missouri School Improvement Program, known as MSIP.