Payroll problems?

$477,608.

 

Nearly a half-million dollars.

 

That's how much the Willow Springs R-IV School District over-spent a single line item in the fiscal year 2025 budget.

 

Originally budgeted at $1.18 million for certified position salaries in the elementary school alone, the district spent $1.66 million. This sum does not include administrator salaries, only certified teachers. It is not districtwide; it is from the elementary-school budget specifically. It does not include the additional cost of benefits or payroll taxes — only salaries. At a median salary of just over $43,000 in that building, this single instance of overspending alone represents as many as 10 positions' worth of money no one had permission to spend, per the board-approved budget.

 

Statewide, taxpayer-funded agencies like school districts must pass a budget before the beginning of their fiscal year. These budgets are approved by vote of elected officials, like school board members. Unelected employees, like superintendents, then have permission to spend taxpayer dollars using the budget as a guideline.

 

Unforeseen circumstances inevitably arise. Because spending a budget to the penny is virtually impossible, state law provides for budget amendments — a way to true-up actual spending at the end of the year.

 

In the lead up to FY26, there was no action from the school board to true-up the budget. Instead, as previously reported by Howell County News, there was an announcement of a critically low reserve balance — only 2 percent above the threshold at which the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) can intervene.

 

In FY25, the school district's spending outpaced the approved budget by $2.65 million. It outpaced actual revenue received by $2.641 million.

 

In one year, the district's balance of cash on hand dropped by $2.73 million.

 

Millions of dollars in unplanned spending occurred in each of the last two fiscal years. In FY24, the district spent $3.756 million over budget, despite revenue increases, many coming in the form of federal ESSER monies. The shortfall that year was $1.247 million from actual revenue received.

 

According to figures from the June 2025 general ledger, the overspending is tied to certified salaries and large projects listed under building funds.

 

Manipulated Reports?

 

The following information was not presented in the June 2025 ledger alone. Pulling up that report, which is easily accessible to the public at willowbears.com, shows budget that has been spent at 100 percent. Budgeted amounts have been updated to match actual amounts spent at the end of the fiscal year, and the budget-tracking column reports 100 percent on-target spending.

 

Budgeted figures used in this investigation have been gathered from the January 2025 general ledger, which is in the same fiscal year. 

 

The May 2025 general ledger shows the same budgeted figures, but it does not reveal overspending. This report, the second-to-last one of the fiscal year, shows a budget 103 percent spent with an overage of $542,195.

 

The following month, when the actuals match the budget column, shows $18.22 million spent, an increase of $2.1 million. Again, this is the same report, a general ledger, published one month apart. 

 

Certified Salary Overspending

 

Personnel costs are the biggest single expense in any school district's budget. In each building's budget, there has not necessarily been planned overspending, but rather the plan has been drastically overspent. 

 

Certified staff members are offered contracts in March or April, well ahead of budget preparation time. As previously reported by this newspaper, staff numbers decreased across the district for the first time in recent memory.

 

Regardless, budgeted amounts for personnel — specifically, certified personnel — fell short of actual spending. Likewise, personnel adjacent costs such as medical insurance and payroll taxes were also underbudgeted and contributed to the overall dent in the district's resources.

 

The elementary school's certified spending, as mentioned above, is more than $477,000 over budget. (See Figure 2.) 

 

The initial budgeted amount was sufficient to pay the salaries of 25 to 29 teachers. The overspending is enough for about 10 more certified staff members.

 

As reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper's Public Pay tool, there were 21 certified teachers in the elementary school in FY25.

 

The middle school, overall, was below budget by $165,000.

 

In the high school, spending woes were back with $134,618 spent over budget overall, including $143,021 above the budget for certified salaries. The high school had a $1.1-million salary budget for certified staff, and there are 28 teachers employed in the high school, according to the Public Pay tool.

 

Line-item spending for administrator salaries in the general ledger does not match information gathered on pay for these individuals gathered by Howell County News. See the next issue for the results of further investigation, as well as a comparison of how local spending on administrative staff compares to nearby districts.

 

Dr. Spence did not respond by press time to requests for information on the current number of certified teachers employed. He did not, before press time, provide an explanation or context for the overspending. 

 

Answers responsive to the News’ questions will be published when and if they are received.

 

What about football?

 

As previously reported, the Student Activities portion of the budget was overbudget by more than $359,000. 

 

Athletics, including salaries, were over budget by $96,000, too, but that does not mean that activities are part of the spending problem or a factor in the dip in the cash balance. Student activities and athletics are meant to be self-sufficient, so their budget is entered into the ledger at only $100 for the year, which is obviously insufficient. Revenues, donations, fundraising efforts, and ticket sales vary from year to year, but overall student activities and athletics were in the black over $117,000.

 

Building costs

 

Since the city of Willow Springs conveyed the former MoDOT complex of buildings to the district in 2022, the school has turned them into Innovation Hall — a variety of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. A $500,000 grant for these programs is reflected in the "care and upkeep of building" budget bucket, yet the department was overspent by more than $837,000.

 

In this department, overspending on salaries shows up again, but this time for non-certified staff, specifically custodians. This line item is overspent by nearly $89,000. Custodial supplies cost $100,000 more than was budgeted. 

 

Property insurance showed an increase of $93,625 above the budgeted amount.

 

In building acquisition and improvement, the district spent more than $400,000 above the approved budget. 

 

The general ledger shows $212,037 spent on the "weight room," and $427,121 was spent on improvements. The roof of the high school required a $600,000 repair for roof damage in the straight-line wind event on March 16.