The Festus R-6 School District’s new budget projects the district spending about $3.15 million more than it brings in this school year, primarily because the district has included capital improvement projects in the budget to meet the needs of a growing student enrollment, Superintendent Nicki Ruess said.
“The reason for the deficit is due to costs for construction, renovations, facility improvements and equipment, supplies and technology needed to equip those spaces,” she said.
Board members voted unanimously June 26 to approve the new budget, which began June 30 and ends July 1, 2026.
According to the budget, the district will bring in an estimated $46,823,132.52 in revenue and spend an estimated $49,977,029.81, including about $7,577,412.50 on capital improvement projects. Of that, $5 million is allocated for the construction of an addition to Festus Intermediate School, which is expected to be completed before the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
The new budget also includes increases in pay and benefits for all district employees, Ruess said.
Every one of the district’s 440 employees received raises in the new budget – a 4.46 percent pay increase for teachers, a 7.4 percent increase for noncertified staff and a 1.6 percent raise for administrators and directors. The raises for the teachers will cost the district about $938,175, the raises for noncertified staff will cost the district about $505,764 and the increases for administrators and directors will cost about $43,076, for a total of about $1.48 million, Ruess said.
She said the new budget also includes a 7 percent increase in costs for insurance and the payments to the retirement funds.
Both revenue and expenditures are projected to be higher this school year than last, when the district’s budget called for $45,629,608.44 in revenues and $48,104,100 in expenditures, for a deficit of about $2.5 million, also largely due to spending on capital projects, Ruess said.
This school year’s budget projects the district ending with $13,202,250.38 in reserve funds. That’s $1,489,485.85 less than the $14,691,736.23 in reserves the district ended with last school year. According to the new budget, the district will end this fiscal year with 28.78 percent of its annual operating funds in reserves, Ruess said.
The district strives to maintain between 28 percent and 32 percent of its annual operating costs in reserves, Ruess said.
In addition to the approximately $1.5 million reduction in reserves to cover part of this year’s overall budget deficit, the district will cover about $1.6 million of that deficit with money from the capital projects fund that was saved and carried over from previous years, Ruess said.
“We have been very intentional about building this savings up for projects we will have in the future,” she said.
While the district’s new budget projects an overall deficit, the general operating fund, which covers employee pay, benefits and day-to-day expenses, is projected to be in the black, with operating fund revenues expected to be $42,432,029.02 and expenditures at $42,399,617.31, for an approximately $32,411 surplus, Ruess said.
“Overall the district is in very good shape financially,” Ruess said. “We are and have been completing renovations and new construction to meet the facility demands due to an increase in student enrollment. Our reserves are strong and our board has done a fantastic job of establishing long-range plans. Their financial guidance and planning over the past several years has us in a position to not only meet construction demands and desires, but also maintain salaries and benefits that are at or near the top in Jefferson County.”
The district has seen an increase in total enrollment of students in Early Childhood Education classes through grade 12 from about 3,000 in 2019 to nearly 3,500 at the end of the 2024-2025 school year in June, she reported.
Festus R-6 officials plan to move the district’s sixth grade students to the newly completed addition at the Middle School starting in August. In addition, the district plans to move the district’s third grade students from Festus Elementary school to the Intermediate School at the start of the 2026-2027 school year, after an addition is completed there.
The district’s overall current property tax rate is $4.1184 per $100 assessed valuation. The board sets the district’s new tax rate each September.