Bear Nation,

Thank you for your support of the Willow Springs R-IV School District! I just wanted to briefly provide some context for the audit numbers shared in the January 17 edition of the Howell County News. Within the story that recapped the January board meeting, it was stated that, “The total spending for the year was $16,315,000, resulting in a net loss of $477,000 after revenue.” While that information is factual, our auditor provided context during the meeting. The district spent $1,186,847 in ESSER III Grant funding during FY23. That money came out of our budget and we did have greater expenditures than revenue. However, it was grant money that had to be spent prior to October of 2024. If you take the ESSER funds out of the equation, our revenues actually outpaced our expenditures by $710,234. 

Myself and your board of education are very thoughtful and careful with taxpayer money and it’s our goal to always be fiscally responsible. Hopefully, this helps ease any confusion with our end of year audit. We look forward to an exciting spring on campus!

 

Sincerely,

Marty Spence

 

Publisher’s note: This submission was originally submitted for publication in the January 24 issue, but a clerical error caused a week’s delay.