Bevier C-4 schools are getting more than $120,000 less from the state this year, Superintendent Chad Hall wrote in an Oct. 9 letter to the community, and he warned that a state budget decision last month makes further cuts likely next year.
Hall laid out the numbers in a three-page "Community Update on School Funding." The district will lose about $70,000 this year because the state has not fully funded its school foundation formula, he wrote. It also no longer receives $52,000 in Missouri Quality Pre-Kindergarten grant money.
"This is a big deal," Hall wrote. State revenue now makes up about 40% of the district's budget, down from about 42% last year, according to the letter. "A two-percentage-point change is significant for a district our size."
Hall wrote that the district remains financially healthy and has an unrestricted fund balance of 67.45%, "which is very healthy for a district our size." But he wrote that the reserve "is not recurring revenue" and cannot permanently replace state funding while costs rise.
"This letter is intended to build awareness, not alarm," he wrote.
According to the letter, the board combined two English teaching positions into one, cut the librarian from full time to part time, and changed kitchen staffing, which reduced spending by about $46,000 a year. The district also coated its roofs with a white protective coating that carries an 18-year warranty, switched all lighting to LED, added insulation to the high school, and bought a vehicle for small-group trips that would otherwise need a full-size bus, saving driver pay and using gasoline instead of diesel.
Hall pointed to the Missouri State Board of Education's Sept. 15 vote on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's fiscal 2028 budget request. The board approved the request except for the foundation formula, which it kept at the fiscal 2027 level of $4,282,736,000, according to DESE's meeting summary. That is about $270 million less than the amount required to fully fund the formula, DESE said.
The General Assembly sets the final amount. Hall wrote that "beginning the process with a request that is already $270 million short makes full funding highly unlikely and virtually guarantees further reductions next year."
Hall also pointed to changes in state law. He wrote that DESE must now count students based on enrollment rather than attendance, so districts with poor attendance will see more money while districts with strong attendance like Bevier will "see our share of the pie be cut yet again."
Under state law, the minimum salary for a full-time teacher with a master's degree and at least 10 years of experience rises to $48,000 in the 2027-28 school year. Starting in 2028-29, minimum salaries are adjusted each year for inflation, with increases capped at 3%.
Hall wrote that the shortfall falls harder on Bevier because it has "little industrial or commercial tax base." Most local tax revenue comes from individuals, families, farmers, and homeowners, he wrote, so "a greater local burden falls on the same families the district serves."
The district's August tax-rate workbook proposed a 2026-27 levy of $3.8508 per $100 of assessed valuation, all in the incidental fund, on about $19.6 million in assessed valuation.
Hall listed needs ahead: aging heating and cooling equipment that will need costly repair and replacement, and an older bus fleet. The district routinely has "multiple buses in for repairs," he wrote.
He closed by encouraging residents to research the candidates for state office before the November election and learn their positions on public education and school funding.
"Decisions made at the state level have a direct impact on our local schools and local tax payers," Hall wrote.