A parents group is collecting signatures for a petition requesting a state audit of the Fox C-6 School District because the group members believe the district has been spending money recklessly.
Mike Gross, vice president of the group called Parents Advocating Change for Kids (PACK), said he filed a request with the state auditor on Sept. 27, 2022, for a petition calling for the audit. The Auditor’s Office sent the group the petition in October, and the group has until Sept. 27 to collect the signatures needed for the Missouri State Auditor’s Office to audit the district. The group will need to gather at least 4,980 signatures from registered voters who live inside the district’s boundaries.
If enough signatures are collected by the deadline, the state will audit the district, and Fox will be required to pay between $100,000 and $150,000 for the audit, according to the petition.
As of March 2, the group had collected about half the required signatures, said Gross, 49, of Imperial.
He said he believes PACK will be able to collect the number of signatures required to trigger the audit.
“We have a pretty aggressive plan to start working on collecting the rest of the signatures,” said Gross, who has two children enrolled in the district. “We will have a signature drive starting soon. We will make those details available.”
Superintendent Paul Fregeau said he and other Fox district officials are aware of the petition drive.
He also said Daniel Jones & Associates, a certified public accounting firm in Arnold, has given the district unqualified, or clean, opinions for audit reports the past two years.
Fregeau said unqualified opinions are the highest form of opinion an auditor gives out and demonstrates that Fox is meeting the highest standards for financial management and reporting.
“Fox C-6 is confident in the opinion we receive regarding our annual financial audit,” he said. “However, if our community speaks and requests an additional audit of Fox C-6 finances, the district will respect the wishes of the community.”
Seeking answers
Gross said he and other PACK members decided to push for a state audit after Board of Education members voted in March 2022 to increase teachers’ salaries by an average of 6.53 percent for this school year, another 2.35 percent for the 2023-2024 school year and 2.17 percent more for the 2024-2025 school year.
“There were sketchy things that occurred during that meeting that nobody really picked up on,” said Gross, who owns a commercial lighting company. “It took us a little bit to put that together.”
In January 2021, chief financial officer John Stewart, who recently told the district he will retire at the end of this school year, gave a presentation to the Fox school board that showed the district would not be able to sustain the salary increases without an additional revenue source. At that time the district was projected to start this school year with $17,932,631 in its reserves and end the school year with $11,695,577.
Fox’s financial situation has since improved, with the district starting this school year with $26,172,566 in reserves, and Fox is projected to finish the school year with $23,078,355 in that fund.
During the discussion last year about teacher raises, which passed 6-0, board member April Moeckel, who abstained from the vote, said it was fiscally irresponsible to approve the raises because at that time projections indicated the district would not have more than 15 percent of its operating budget in reserves. Board policy calls for the district to maintain at least l5 percent of its operating budget in reserves.
“If a board member is openly saying that and they are still passing it, I have questions,” Gross said. “The reason it is a big deal is it put a lot of financial stress on the district. If we could afford it, I would be for it. I don’t believe they should have passed an increase for the teachers that they can’t afford. That is part of the reckless spending.”
Gross said the PACK group filed Sunshine Law requests for records so it could get a closer look at the school district’s finances, and he believes he discovered improper payroll payments related to overtime and comp time.
During the 2021-2022 school year, about 50 employees received comp time payments that totaled $28,182.04, according to a letter Gross sent the school board in September 2022.
He also said two employees received most of that money with the two together being paid $13,842.29 in comp time.
Gross said there was one comp time payment to an employee for $5,164.19 on April 15, 2022.
“One of the big things on the payroll reports was people were being paid comp time,” he said. “It says in board policy that comp time is given to them in lieu of compensation. I thought that was a direct contradiction to policies.”
Fregeau said Fox pays comp time and overtime in accordance with board policies and procedures, along with the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
The PACK group’s request for the audit also asks the state to examine how the district has spent Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds received as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as revenue from Proposition P, a $40 million bond issue voters approved in June 2020 to complete a number of capital improvement projects.
“Do I know or feel that it has been irresponsibly spent? No,” Gross said. “There was a lot of money that came into the district through COVID funds, and we want to make sure the federal funding and money they get from the state is being spent responsibly and in the right way.”
Hopes for audit
Gross said he and other PACK members want the audit because they believe district finances are being handled irresponsibly and because the district is considering asking voters in August to approve a tax increase of $1.0207 per $100,000 in assessed valuation.
“With the financial issues the district is having and the tax levy (increase) they are asking for, I felt it is in the best interest of the students, staff and taxpayers to know whether or not our tax money is being spent irresponsibly or being used to enrich the administrators or if they are doing a good job and everything is legitimate,” Gross said.
He also said he hopes the audit shows Fox is handling its finances correctly.
“My suspicion is that is not going to happen,” he added.
Fregeau said he hopes the prospect of a state audit will not negatively impact voters’ decisions about a potential request for a tax levy increase.
“Fox C-6 strives to be good stewards of the tax revenues received by our community,” he said. “The district is confident with the procedures in place to manage purchasing and payroll. Through continued transparency and open communication with the community, we hope any impact of an audit request will be minimal.”
PACK origins
Gross said PACK was formed in September 2021, and the organization created a private Facebook group in October of that year.
As of Monday, the Facebook group had 670 members.
Gross said anyone can ask to be part of the Facebook group, and there are no fees associated with the group.
He also said PACK has a five-person board and about 10 advisers who volunteer to help the group with its projects and goals.
“There is a misconception and we are painted as a book-banning group and have been called all kinds of names,” he said. “We are just looking out for the education of our kids. We want a traditional curriculum taught. We want special agendas, special interests, political activism and politics out of the classroom. We just want our kids to get the best education they can from the public school. That is our goal.
“Part of that is transparency from the district, and I don’t feel that we get that.”