The Fox C-6 School District is projected to spend $3,283,718 more than it collects in revenue this year as the district chips away at completing $150 million in needed capital improvements, officials said.
The school district is projected to spend $157,557,046 this fiscal year, which started July 1 and runs through June 30, 2026. The district’s projected revenue is $154,273,328.
That deficit spending will reduce Fox C-6’s overall fund balances, or reserves, from $46,392,206 to $43,108,488 at the end of the fiscal year, according to the budget.
“We are spending some of those balances (in the capital projects fund) to meet the needs of the buildings, parking lots and other needs in our district,” said Tracy Schmidt, Fox C-6 chief operating officer.
The district anticipates spending $8,949,194 on capital improvement projects during the fiscal year. It will start the fiscal year with $9,233,130 in its capital improvement fund balance and anticipates collecting $4,779,875 from its capital projects tax levy, which is 32 cents per $100 assessed valuation, the budget shows. That will leave the district with a capital projects fund balance of $5,063,811.
While the district is expected to spend more than it brings in overall, Fox C-6 officials expect the district’s operating budget expenditures to match the revenue it collects to cover operating costs, such as salaries and benefits and purchased services and supplies.
The budget calls for the Fox district to spend $142,803,509 on operating costs during the 2025-2026 fiscal year and bring in $142,083,509 in operating revenue, and it will make up the $720,000 difference from money in the student activities fund, which includes money raised by organizations, like athletic teams and school clubs.
The district projects collecting $2,220,000 in its student activities fund and spending $1.5 million on student activities.
Fox C-6 officials expect to start the fiscal year with $33,141,080 in its operating fund balance and end the year with the same balance, according to the budget.
The budget also shows Fox C-6 collecting $885,600 more than it is spending in debt services, with the district receiving $5,189,943 in debt service fund revenue and spending $4,304,343 in that fund.
“I feel we are in a good spot,” said Chrissy Rufkahr, Fox C-6 executive director of finance. “There is still a lot that will need to be monitored moving forward.”
Board of Education members voted 6-0 on July 17 to approve the budget. Board president April Moeckel was absent from the meeting.
Monitoring
During that meeting, Superintendent Paul Fregeau warned that the more $4 billion-plus in funding included in the Missouri budget to support public education does not mean the Fox district and other school districts are guaranteed more money this fiscal year.
The state provided districts with $6,760 per student last fiscal year, and that figure is supposed to rise to $7,145 per student this fiscal year. However, Fregeau said the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has told district’s not to expect to receive more money per student than it did last fiscal year.
“(DESE) told every superintendent in the state, ‘Don’t budget more than $6,760 per kid; you are never going to get the $7,145,’” Fregeau said. “They (the state Legislature) are playing a shell game with funding our kids’ education. It gets a little frustrating when you are trying to put a budget together.”
Fregeau also said Fox C-6 will need to monitor its assessed valuation because the budget had to be completed before that information was available.
“We estimated a collection rate, but the collection rate changes from year to year,” he said. “A percent here or there, either good or bad, can make a huge difference to how much local revenue we are getting. That ebbs and flows until about March.”
Schmidt said Fox C-6 officials are also keeping an eye on how much federal funding will be available this fiscal year, telling the board that the district expects to see the federal funding the state receives to drop by 8 percent this fiscal year.
“One piece of information we got was a projected $24 million cut to title funds across Missouri,” he said. “We don’t know how that will be allocated per school district.”
Capital improvements
Schmidt said the Fox C-6 budget calls for the district to spend $585,638.83 on asphalt work and paving parking lots at Ridgewood Middle School and Antonia and Lone Dell elementary schools this fiscal year. Those projects started after the 2024-2025 school year ended on May 23 and will be completed soon.
Another project that started after last school year is the replacement of the variable refrigerant flow HVAC system in Fox High School’s second wing. Schmidt said the district will pay $1,988,773 for that work, which includes duct work and piping.
“It is a very large project,” he said. “We hope for it to be completed in August.”
Schmidt also said the district expects to pay about $200,000 to replace HVAC at Rickman Auditorium, and about $50,000 to replace an HVAC unit at the Fox C-6 Service Center. The Service Center unit is set to be replaced this summer and the new units at Rickman in the fall.
Schmidt said the district will seek bids for other capital improvement projects throughout the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
“In addition to HVAC projects at several buildings and asphalt that needs to be replaced, our maintenance department has identified drainage issues on a few campuses that we are looking to remedy,” he said. “We are also working to replace original carpet and plumbing in some buildings to help each run more efficiently and provide a welcoming environment for students and staff.”
Schmidt said district officials anticipate spending approximately $3.5 million on capital improvements in the 2026-2027 fiscal year. He said the district will look at completing asphalt paving projects Sherwood, Rockport Heights, Guffey and Hodge elementary schools; installing new carpet and making other improvements at Rickman; and purchasing buses.
“The district has several needs we are planning to address,” he said.
Employees
The Fox district’s most expensive budget item is employee salaries and benefits, which are paid for with funds from the operating budget.
Schmidt said the district expects to pay $3,725,288.02 more for salaries this fiscal year than it did last fiscal year. He said Fox C-6 spent $88,148,783.98 on salaries during the 2024-2025 fiscal year and expects to spend $91,874,072 on salaries for the 2025-2026 fiscal.
He also said Fox C-6 expects to pay $28,184,004, or $2,594,867 more for employee benefits this fiscal year than it did last fiscal year, when it spent $25,589,137 for benefits.
Nathan Burch, Fox C-6 assistant superintendent of human resources, said the district had about 2,015 employees throughout the 2024-2025 fiscal year, and it expects to employ about the same number of people during the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
“We are committed to remain competitive to attract new staff and retain our highly valued employees,” he said of Fox C-6’s salary and benefit packages. “In addition to salary improvements, we have made meaningful changes to our benefit package in order to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for all employees.”