What's Happening Weekly @ MRH
June 23, 2025
The Maplewood Richmond Heights School District Board of Education approved the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 budget at a special work session on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. This year's budget prioritizes stability and strategic growth within the District's revenue streams, with a focus on increased support for students and an increase to teacher salaries to be more competitive within the region.
Total projected revenue for the new budget year is expected to be $34,009,229. Expenses are expected to total $30,590,428.
The District’s fund balance as of June 30, 2026 is calculated to be 43.7%, up from the balance of 33.9% for the fiscal year just ended. (A school fund balance is the difference between assets - such as cash and investments - and outstanding expenses.) This positive shift is largely attributable to the additional $0.50 transferred to the District’s operating levy, overwhelmingly approved by voters in April. This revenue will directly support increases to teacher salaries by addressing their competitive standing among peer districts, while still ensuring sufficient revenue for the District's bond principal and interest payments.
State funding, however, is projected to experience only modest growth as the state anticipates utilizing its reserves, resulting in no significant increase to general revenue. Furthermore, federal funding is expected to decrease due to ongoing administrative changes.
While the local increase in revenue is significant, ongoing inflationary pressures have necessitated budgetary increases across nearly every spending category. The Board of Education, in close collaboration with the Central Office administrative team, has worked to implement strategic spending reductions, particularly in the area of services purchased from vendors and other providers.
Looking ahead to FY ‘26, the District's overarching goals include proactively addressing the diverse needs of the growing student population, prioritizing their social and emotional well-being, developing equitable and engaging educational programs, ensuring competitive employee compensation, and providing high-quality, updated facilities for student use. These interconnected efforts are designed to cultivate an inclusive and supportive educational environment that fosters the success and well-being of all students and staff.
The complete MRH FY ‘26 budget can be viewed on our website.
MRH Board Secretary Katie Kaufmann has earned Advanced Board Member Certification from the Missouri School Boards’ Association.
The certification program recognizes school board members who choose to complete additional professional development requirements beyond the 18 ½ hours of training required by the Outstanding Schools Act of 1993 for new board members. To achieve Advanced Certification, board members must earn at least 12 additional training credits, complete annual refresher training requirements through MSBA, read two books related to school board service, attend at least two MSBA regional or statewide events and write an essay relating their study to their board service.
Kaufmann, a strategist with the Missouri Foundation for Health, joined the MRH Board of Education in April 2014. She began her career as a middle school math teacher and department chair at Lift for Life Academy in St. Louis. She has extensive experience in nonprofit leadership and management with expertise and passion for developing the talent of others and leveraging the expertise of diverse constituents. Kaufmann and her husband have lived in Richmond Heights since 2006 and are the parents of two MRH students.
For more than two decades, MRH Elementary School has wrestled with communications challenges, requiring staff to walk outside just to make a cell phone call. The introduction of a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) by Tech Electronics transformed the situation, providing reliable cell service throughout the building. Teachers now report significant improvements in safety and communication, with no dead zones for calls. The DAS marks MRH Elementary as a pioneer in the St. Louis area for this cellular enhancement... as you'll see by watching the video (linked below) featuring Principal Carlisha Elam, Lead Custodian Ernest Jones and MRH Operations Director Dr. Michael Dittrich.
