Meeting a community need

The community has a need for more preschool opportunities for 4-year-olds. Williams Early Childhood Center continues to have a waiting list and Parker Preschool has a waiting list as well. Many day care facilities are full and 59% of our local military spouses say the ability to find child care and/or cost impact their ability to be employed.

Steps to make Pre-K a reality

• • The community has a need for more preschool opportunities for 4-year-olds. Williams Early Childhood Center continues to have a waiting list and Parker Educational Center received 120 applicants for its 40 spots. Many daycare facilities are full and 59% of our local military spouses say the ability to find child care and/or cost impact their ability to be employed.

    • Step 1: To help meet the community need for more preschool, the Waynesville R-VI School District could potentially build a new elementary school on existing school district property.
    • Step 2: Building a new elementary school would open space at East and Freedom for pre-K students. Pre-K students would attend East, Freedom and the new elementary school through 5th grade.
    • Step 3: Moving off-post Williams Early Childhood Center students to their home schools would open up space at Williams for more on-post Pre-K students.
    • Step 4: Moving 4-year-olds into preschool opens day care spots for more children, which allows parents to have more job opportunities.

B-2 Heavily Impacted Aid provides $8,500,000 every year

The $8,500,000 in B-2 Heavily Impacted Aid (about 11% of the district's budget) is used for

• capital building projects, such as making room for preschool education
• maintenance, upkeep and remodeling of facilities

To continue to receive B-2, local taxpayers must make a "reasonable" local tax effort.

Waynesville R-VI's sources of revenue compared to the average school district in Missouri:

• Local revenue
•      Waynesville: 23%     
•       Missouri average: 59%
• State revenue
•       Waynesville: 44%     
•        Missouri average: 33%
• Federal revenue
•        Waynesville: 33%
•        Missouri average: 8%

Per pupil expenditure is below state average

The Waynesville R-VI School District's per pupil expenditure is $1,432 less than the state average per pupil expenditure. The state's calculation of per pupil expenditure does not include capital projects, such as buildings. 

How local tax revenue is calculated:

The local tax revenue per student is calculated by taking the total amount of local tax revenue divided by the total number of students in a district. The amount of local tax revenue per student as depicted at right is: 

 

 

 

Waynesville: $1,706; Lebanon: $3,587; Rolla: $4,008; Camdenton: $9,320

Missouri (State average): $5,434

Questions and answers

1. Voters approved of a 20-cent increase in April 2017, which was projected to protect B-2 for about 10 years. How much longer do we have?

The 20-cent increase was projected to keep the district eligible for B-2 Heavily Impacted Aid for about 10 years, but the district included Prop C revenue as part of the local revenue (as it had been for 20 years); however, the Department of Education has since declared that Prop C may no longer be counted as part of the local tax effort. In order to keep B-2 funding, a potential 20-cent tax levy may be needed in the future to make up for the Prop C shortfall.

2. What happens if we ever lose B-2 Heavily Impacted Aid?

The district would have to drastically change its operations to make up for an ongoing annual loss of $8,500,000 in federal revenue. All long-range plans for construction, including building an elementary school, would be put on hold. Losing $8,500,000 annually could result in future teacher and staff raises being in jeopardy and some programs being eliminated. Construction and upkeep would be significantly delayed and the district would need to ask for costly general obligation bonds to construct and maintain facilities in the future.

3. What is the difference between Basic Impact and B-2 Heavily Impacted Aid?

Basic Impact Aid is provided to the district in lieu of taxes not paid by Federal facilities and is not affected by the local tax levy. However, to be eligible for B-2 Heavily Impacted Aid, local taxpayers must make a “reasonable” local tax effort. Fewer than 25 school districts in the United States qualify for B-2.

4. What is the district’s current tax levy rate, and how does it compare to other districts?

• Waynesville’s tax levy is $2.95.
• The State of Missouri’s average school tax levy is $4.19.