JACK SILBERBERG • REPORTER@LACLEDERECORD.COM
The Lebanon R-3 School Board approved both the district’s budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 and a classroom expansion of the Early Childhood Center inside the Robert W. Plaster Center for Student Success (located at 2020 Evergreen Parkway) at their study session last week at Central Office.
Faced with a need for funding cuts – see the Record’s previous reporting – the district ultimately approved a budget with a balanced operating fund budget ($61,419,965 in, $61,419,965 out).
At the time of writing, Gov. Mike Kehoe had not signed the state’s budget.
Some of the district’s budget assumptions, district financial and operations officer Adam Dameron explained during the budget presentation, was the governor would sign and fund the state budget, there would be no state withholdings, state funding would continue to grow with the consumer price index (as would local revenue), and that transportation would continue to be fully state-funded.
If any of those or other noted assumption would change, Dameron said the district would bring a budget amendment to the school board.
The district planned for a $6,830 State Adequacy Target.
The budget had a step advancement for which all employees were eligible as well as a 1% cost of living allowance.
The operating fund balance percentage for the budget was based at 18%, with Dameron saying the goal was 20%.
With the 18% fund balance base, estimated SAT, step and 1% COLA, cuts needed to hit a $2,817,963 target, Dameron explained.
The debt service fund budget had a projected $383,479 surplus, the GOCAPS (Greater Ozarks Centers for Advanced Professional Studies) fund budget was projected to be balanced, and with no remaining bond authorization, the district assumed it would spend the remaining bond funds in its bond fund budget in FY 2026-2027.
Reductions consist of three tiers, from minimal to direct classroom impact. For phase two (2026-2027), an example of tier one reductions would be pausing bus purchases for one year ($159,583), an example of tier two reductions would be reducing bus travel costs by 10% for athletic and field trips ($31,947), and examples of tier three reductions would be technology software ($57,128) and personnel cost variance ($599,184).
Staffing reductions to date – which the Record previously reported on – remained the same as they were at the last meeting, Dameron said.
According to the budget presentation, the phase 2 reductions hit that $2,817,963 target number. Readers can find the budget presentation, which includes the list of reductions, online through the district’s BoardDocs for the study session.
The board, through a 6-1 vote, amended the budget before approving it by adjusting the salary schedules to have a 1% increase.
This was to alter district’s proposed adjustment in the coordinators schedule included in the original proposed budget, which Dameron said was the smallest of the three targeted schedules to fix ($35,943 compared to the paraprofessionals schedule – $176,492 – and the coaching stipends – $80,158).
The school board also approved the sixth change order for the Plaster Center construction project, which included the Early Childhood Center classroom addition (that chunk is $929,360), for $936,433.
Kristi Beattie, partner and director of talent and organization at Sapp Design Architects, Jacob Johnson, project manager from Branco Enterprises, and Dameron led the presentation.
The expected new substantial completion date is Dec. 23, 2026 (with 191 calendar days added to the project through the change order). $19,640 was the remaining owner contingency.
They also approved expense budget for the Early Childhood classroom expansion project of $122,702.
The Early Childhood Center expansion came up at June 9’s regular meeting as one potential capital improvement.
