Ste. Genevieve School District R-II holds Tax Rate Hearing & Regular Meeting

STE. GENEVIEVE – The Ste. Genevieve County School District R-II has released this report of the August 26, 2025 Board of Education meeting.

This information includes highlights from the Ste. Genevieve County R-II Board of Education’s August 26, 2025, Regular meeting. This is an unofficial record. The official Board Minutes are posted on the district website and are located on Simbli, linked here. The video of the meeting can be found on the district’s Youtube Channel, SGDragonsTV at https://youtu.be/pZgttJIx6eM?si=6p2zSlLrPFJrvSEK

TAX RATE HEARING

The Board of Education held its annual tax rate hearing. Superintendent Dr. Paul Taylor presented the tax rate information, including an overview of the district’s planning and projections for the 2025-2026 year, including contingency planning for uncertain tax revenue and possible legal expenditures. After the presentation, board members and patrons were given the opportunity to participate in a question and answer session to seek clarification and additional information on the tax rate. (No patrons attended the hearing.)

Tax Rate Recommendations

• The total tax rate would remain $3.4055 (no increase from the 2024-2025 total tax rate).
• Taylor presented the district’s recommendation to set the operating levy at $2.8450, the debt service levy at $0.4605, and the capital projects levy at $0.1000 for a total levy of $3.4055 for the 2025-2026 school year.

            Understanding the Tax Rate

• Public school districts have four funds, as required by state statute:

1. Incidental (General): for all resources except those in another fund
2. Teacher (Special): for all teachers’ salaries and benefits and also tuition payments to other districts
3. Debt Service: for long-term debt payments
4. Capital Projects: facility acquisition, construction, lease, purchase, principal and interest payments, etc.

• When the district sets its tax rate, there are two different rates that need to be determined:
  1. Operating Levy (Funds 1, 2, and 4):
     • This adjustment comes directly from the state auditor’s calculations, which generates the tax rate. The calculation uses data from the prior year tax rate, prior year assessed valuation, prior year revenue from state assessed property, the current year assessed valuation, and the projected revenue from state assessed property funds.
     • Assessed valuation for Ste. Genevieve County increased by 7.49%. According to the Hancock Amendment, the operating tax levy can be increased by 5% or by the CPI percentage, whichever is lower. The CPI is 2.9%, which forced the district to lower the operating tax levy down to $2.8450 (from $2.9155 in the 2024-2025 school year).
  2. Debt Service Levy (Fund 3):
     • The maximum calculated rate the district could have set the debt service rate is 0.4742 cents; Dr. Taylor recommended a voluntary rollback with setting the debt service levy at $0.4605.
     • This debt service levy calculation may provide the district an opportunity to make a prepayment on bond monies, which will save taxpayers money on interest in the future. Dr. Taylor shared that he only felt comfortable with this change to the debt service levy because the overall tax rate will remain the same.

• Taylor shared the following comparison sheets for tax projections. These do not take into account any other taxing entities’ tax increases, nor do they account for any improvements made to homes: Commercial, Residential, and Agricultural.
• Out of 20 local districts, the district is the fourth-lowest in total tax rate for the 2024-2025 school year. (We are unable to create a comparison for the 2025-2026 school year because the deadline in some counties for their tax rates to be set is Oct. 1.)

Uncertain Tax Revenue:

• Currently, $36.7 million of the district’s portion of tax revenue from the last prior four years is being held in escrow, due to ongoing tax protests from Amrize (formerly LafargeHolcim), MLC (formerly Mississippi Lime), and Lhoist. These funds will be held in escrow and continue to grow with each subsequent year as taxes are protested, until these protests are resolved.
• These tax protests began when LafargeHolcim filed a protest with the local Board of Equalization regarding the value of some of its properties and subsequent taxation for the 2021-2022 year. The Board of Equalization upheld the assessor office values, and LafargeHolcim protested and appealed the valuation to the Missouri Tax Commission. If the Missouri Tax Commission were to uphold the assessor office values, the next level of appeal would be the court system. This process could take several years. During this time, the tax revenue that would be paid to the taxing entities is being held in escrow until the protest is resolved.
  • Amrize (formerly LafargeHolcim) has now filed an appeal for four consecutive school years, and is anticipated to file an appeal for the 2025-2026 school year. The total taxes from LafargeHolcim currently held in escrow for the four school years is approximately $34,670,682.
  • Mississippi Lime Company filed a similar protest regarding the value of some of its property for the 2022-2023, 2023-2024, and 2024-2025 school years, and is anticipated to file an appeal for the 2025-2026 school year.
  • Lhoist filed a similar protest for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years and is anticipated to file a similar protest for the 2025-2026 school year.
• Altogether, with four years of appeals from LaFargeHolcim, three years of appeals from Mississippi Lime and two years of appeal from Lhoist, the total of the district’s portion of this tax revenue that is currently held in escrow is approximately $36,697,001, an amount that will be held until the protests are resolved.
• The district took the uncertainty of this situation into consideration when creating budget projections for the 2025-2026 school year.
• Also, the district receives approximately 75% of local taxes. If the appeal makes its way through the court system, the legal fees for the district could be in the $3 to 4.5 million range. The legal fees the district has paid to date regarding these tax protests totals approximately $1,008,171. See the breakdown by fiscal year below:
  • FY26 – $88,163
  • FY25 – $203,248
  • FY24 – $176,533.99
  • FY23 – $226,652.83
  • FY22 – $242,063.47
  • FY21 – $57,130.00
  • FY20 – $14,380.27

If the tax protests were to be settled, and the district were to receive the tax monies currently sitting in escrow:

• Taylor has shared that the Board and administration are committed to rolling back the tax rate once the tax revenue is settled. Legally, the lowest a Missouri school district could set the operating levy is $2.75, and this would be the goal for our Board of Education.
• “That $36 million sitting in escrow could easily accomplish [lowering the overall tax rate for our community members, effectively lowering taxes on every single property; reducing some of our overall debt; providing some benefits to our staff such as higher pay and providing free lunches],” Board President David Bova said. “These are all things that would have to be talked about, but if that money would come into our coffers, all of this is part of the discussion.”

2025-2026 Tax Revenue Projections:

• Utilizing the recommended tax rate of $3.4055, Dr. Taylor shared the projected tax revenues for the district. This projection takes into account the following:
  • For the past four years, the district has received only approximately 64% of the total taxes, due to significant ongoing tax protests by local mining companies (typically, school districts receive approximately 95%). The district anticipates receiving about $20.7 million out of the total $32.4 million in taxes for the 2025-2026 year. The vast majority of the difference is being held in escrow during the tax protests.
  • Tax collection fees are typically about 3%.

REGULAR MEETING

MSBA MONTHLY REPORT

The MSBA August Board Report takes a look at how the signing of Senate Bill 68 into law will affect Missouri school districts. The legislation marks a major milestone in Missouri’s commitment to school safety. In addition, the monthly report includes a preview of MSBA’s AI in Education Symposium, Annual Conference, and Fall Regional Meetings.

The MSBA Board Report is a monthly five to seven-minute video program featuring the latest news from MSBA about public education in Missouri. The program is designed to be shown during local school board meetings.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Board members and administrators listen to concerns and respond when appropriate by mail or telephone at a later date. The Board does not respond within the meeting to those who come to offer public comment. In order to speak during public participation, a Public Comment Form must be filled out and submitted to the Board President prior to the beginning of the meeting. See Policy BDDH-1: Public Participation at Board Meetings for guidelines and procedures. 

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT

Back to School Professional Development Days. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lance McClard reviewed the professional development events for all employees that took place prior to the start of the school year. The week included annual safety and security training, discussions surrounding the expansion of competency-based learning (CBL), sessions on teaching in the age of AI, building level meetings, collaboration with grade level and subject level teams, and staff even had the chance to try their hand at driving a school bus!

This year’s back-to-school keynote speaker was Jason Jedamski, a facilitator, consultant and speaker with Ignite2Unite. Jedamski delivered both a keynote and a workshop in which all faculty and staff were able to participate. His keynote focused on school culture, emphasizing the power of simple microbehaviors, the practice of assuming good intentions, and the idea that tiny moments, repeated consistently over time, are what build truly great schools.

DESE – 2025 Annual Determination of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Dr. Taylor presented the 2025 Annual Determination of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) from DESE for the Ste. Genevieve County R-II School District. This is an annual review of the special education programs for public schools in Missouri. The scores that districts can earn range from 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest. An average score of 3.33 or higher in an area results in a Meets Requirements determination for that area. This year, in all of the areas for which SG R-II was evaluated, our district achieved all scores of 4, the highest possible to achieve. Dr. Taylor pointed out that there are a few areas where the District hopes to improve yet, but that our Director of Student Services, our process coordinators, and special education teachers and paraprofessionals do a phenomenal job of making sure that we are meeting the needs of our students.

Handbooks for the 2025-2026 School Year. Dr. Taylor shared the various student and parent handbooks for the 2025-2026 school year.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Prop SG Update. Superintendent Dr. Taylor provided an update on the ongoing Prop SG projects.

Early Childhood:

• Students and staff are enjoying their first few weeks of school in the brand new Early Childhood Center!
• Check out the floor plan of 10 classrooms, as well as a kitchen, multipurpose room, and more.
• Ahead of these projects, there was considerable discussion about traffic flow and potential concerns. From day one, however, we’ve been pleasantly surprised by how smoothly things have gone. While work on Ninth Street is still underway, the city and paving crews have done an excellent job on the sections already completed, and the finished roads look fantastic.
• Two stop signs have been installed at the junction of Maple and Virginia, as well as a “No Left Turn” sign when exiting the Early Childhood Center.
• To better understand traffic patterns, we captured drone footage of student drop-off and pick-up at the Early Childhood Center during the first week of school. Even during the busiest times, lines remained within the parking lot and did not spill out onto the street.

Ste. Genevieve Elementary:

• The first weeks of school at Ste. Genevieve Elementary have brought excitement as students and staff settle into the new gymnasium and entrance! See some recent photos here.
• The design of Ste. Genevieve Elementary’s new gym and on-grade, ADA-accessible entrance with offices can be seen here.
• At Ste. Genevieve Elementary, traffic flow during drop-off and pick-up has not interfered with Early Childhood Center traffic. The Dragons’ Den aftercare program, which launched on the first day of school with 85 students, has also helped reduce congestion by keeping the afternoon line shorter than usual during the first few weeks. Overall, the process has been successful in moving cars through efficiently, with times improving each day.
• Before the school year began, Dr. Taylor met with both of our school resource officers, Chief of Police Daniel Halek, and Officer Ryan Pollock to discuss traffic flow, stop signs, and safety. Chief Halek offered to have his morning officers assist with monitoring and supporting traffic, and another meeting with the department is planned in the coming weeks.
• Partnering with the Ste. Genevieve Police Department has been a tremendous benefit. Along the SGE drop-off and pick-up line, most driveways have remained accessible, and drivers are making steady progress. While it remains a work in progress, ongoing collaboration with the police department and SROs will help identify additional strategies to improve traffic flow.

Parking:

• The front lot parking projects—launched in conjunction with the Ste. Genevieve Elementary construction—are now complete and fully reconfigured. The project added a new retaining wall, extended parking along the far right by the SGMS lot, and redesigned the high school lot. What was once diagonal parking with a narrow drive lane has been replaced by straight 20-foot spaces and a 25-foot drive lane for easier traffic flow. These updates now ensure that the lots remain partially filled during the school day, making parking more convenient for everyone.

Wrestling:

• The floor plan includes a practice wrestling area, office and storage space, locker rooms and restrooms, and a golf simulation room. The building will be situated behind the PAC.
• Crews will hit the ground running soon— two more value engineering items are being determined before dirtwork begins.
• The district still plans to renovate the current wrestling room and weight room to provide additional space and updated equipment to better support our student-athletes.

NEW BUSINESS

Summer of 2026 MSHSAA Dead Period for Activities. The Board of Education approved the MSHSAA Dead Period of Activities for the Summer 2026 to be held Aug. 1, 2026, through Aug. 9, 2026. This date range meets the MSHSAA requirements to start on a Saturday and run for nine consecutive days.

Setting the Tax Rate. The Board of Education approved setting the operating levy at Dr. Taylor presented the district’s recommendation to set the operating levy at $2.8450, the debt service level at $0.4605, and the capital projects levy at $0.1000 for a total levy of $3.4055 for the 2025-2026 school year. The total tax rate would not increase from the 2024-2025 total tax rate.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The next Board of Education meeting will be a Regular Session Meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 6:30 p.m. in the Early Childhood Center’s Multipurpose Room (1200 Maple Drive, Ste. Genevieve).