VIENNA — Maries R-1 Superintendent Teresa Messersmith updated at the May 23 school board meeting updated the board on some of the General Assembly’s education-related activity after the session came to an end in May.

“Overall, the budget for education was very positive this year,” she said.

The Career Ladder Program received the same 60-40 funding as before. Career Ladder is a voluntary performance pay matching program that allows teachers to log hours they spend doing extra work for which they have not already received compensation, such as tutoring and mentoring. The state will pay 60 percent of the amount teachers earn through the program, and school districts will pay the other 40 percent.

The General Assembly voted to fund the $38,000 teacher salary baseline grant that helps districts raise the minimum salaries of teachers.

Board member Matt Novak asked how the state program affected the district after the board voted in March to increase teacher salaries for the 2023-24 school year.

“My suggestion is, and what the state would like to see, is that we keep increasing our base,” Messersmith said. “By 2027, they’re expecting everyone to be at $38,000 on their own.”

She added that because the program is a line item in the budget, the General Assembly could eliminate it anytime before 2027, when it is expected to end.

“Moving forward, I think we need to give some thought to that so that we can: A, take care of the teachers that have been around a little bit longer and B, be fiscally responsible,” Novak said.

Transportation also received an expected 75-percent funding.

Messersmith also discussed the state’s Standard Adequacy Target, which is the estimated cost to adequately educate a Missouri student. The value is $6,375, and the school gets a portion of that amount for every average daily attendance of 1,044 hours.

One piece of legislation that did not pass was a bill that would have allowed for open enrollment in Missouri schools, which would open districts to students who are not residents in the district’s area. Messersmith said it was “huge” for the district.

“I don’t know how long we’ll be able to hold that off but at least another year,” she said.

Messersmith told the board that the district’s Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) plan is due to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) this year. She said the MSIP is DESE’s accountability system to make sure the district retains its accreditation. In the past, the MSIP had been an onsite evaluation, but now the district will upload documentation to DESE.

After the evaluation, DESE will likely have the district focus on its Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP), which details the district’s plans to attain high student achievement.

“That plan should drive our decisions we make here in the district,” Messersmith said.

The plan will last for five years with annual reviews. Messersmith worked on a rough draft that she submitted by the June 1 due date. She offered the board an opportunity to look through the draft and make suggestions. The district will have several more submission deadlines throughout the year.

“It is a big deal for our district,” Messersmith said. “It’s going to be a very busy and a very important year.”

Messersmith said outgoing Vienna High School Principal Ian Murray had suggested that the district offer no credit recovery courses next year or limit credit recovery courses to students who achieved a minimum grade percentage. Some students expressed a lack of interest and effort in completing their coursework because of the availability of credit recovery courses that they perceived as easier than regular classes.

“It’s shorting our students,” Messersmith said. “It’s not teaching them very good work ethic.”

She said she planned to discuss the idea in more detail at the June meeting.

The district’s administrators, counselors and the nurse will receive Drug Impairment Training for Educational Professionals to recognize impairment in students and identify the cause. The training will be on June 27 and June 28 at the Maries R-2 School District.

Messersmith will attend a school law seminar in Columbia in August.

Attendance at the elementary school was 95.83 percent with 220 students enrolled. Attendance at the middle school was 89.48 percent with 94 students enrolled.

“That is not the best,” Messersmith said. “Our middle school has been running a little bit lower than what we’d like.”

Attendance at the high school was 93.52 percent with 160 students enrolled. The average attendance across the district was 92.94 percent and it had 474 students enrolled at the end of the year.