Several things are happening at once.

• The cost of utilities, transportation, supplies, curriculum, and other basics continues to rise. 
• Health insurance costs for district employees have risen five times faster than inflation, making it increasingly difficult to offer the competitive benefits needed to retain and attract quality teachers.
• Parkway is collecting less local funding than it otherwise would because of state law requiring us to roll back our rates and the senior citizen property tax freeze. 
• Parkway also receives only a limited amount of funding from the state, and that amount is set by the state — not by the district. 

Put simply, costs are going up, but the funding available to cover them is not keeping up.

Prop P would provide stable funding for Parkway teachers, classrooms, safety, and student support.

Even after over $15.4 million in budget reductions, we have a $75 million funding shortfall over the next 10 years.

Parkway has cut $15.4 million in expenses in the last two years. Additional reductions would impact staffing, programs, and services that directly support students.

Parkway has reduced its budget by approximately $15.4 million over the past two years while working to minimize the impact on students and classrooms.

District leaders will continue reviewing expenses. Because most of Parkway’s operating budget supports employees and services, additional reductions could affect some combination of staffing, programs, services and classroom resources.

Parkway regularly reviews administrative and other district expenses as part of our budget process, and that process will continue.

Administrative costs include leadership and services that support schools in areas such as staffing, student safety, special education, transportation, facilities, and daily operations.

Administrator salaries in Parkway, as well as the administrator-to-student ratio in Parkway, rank near the middle of other districts in the St. Louis and St. Charles counties.

These funding sources serve different purposes.

Parkway’s fund balance helps the district manage cash flow, respond to unexpected expenses and avoid short-term borrowing. The district is using a portion of its fund balance this year to address the operating shortfall, but relying on those reserves for ongoing expenses is not sustainable over time.

Prop S and other bond funds are legally restricted to voter-approved building and facility projects. They cannot be transferred to the operating budget to pay for salaries, benefits, transportation, student services or other day-to-day expenses. This is why construction projects may continue even while the district faces operating budget pressures.


 

The Board of Education considered the district’s 10-year financial projections, previous budget reductions and feedback collected through community meetings and surveys.

District projections show that a 46-cent operating levy would sustain staffing and services and provide revenue to address the projected gap between operating expenses and funding over the next decade.

Parkway currently has the second-lowest operating tax rate among St. Louis County school districts.

If the proposal is approved, Parkway’s operating tax rate would remain 84 cents lower than it was in 2016.

The last time Parkway voters approved an operating tax levy increase was 20 years ago.

School district budgets have multiple funds that can only be spent in certain ways.

The operating fund is dedicated to the day-to-day running of our schools- it includes salaries and benefits for teachers and staff, services, and supplies. Prop P would fund the operating budget.

Laws require that our funding go into specific “buckets.” Each bucket has its own rules. Capital, debt service, and bond funds, for example, must be used only for the projects approved by voters. This means that a bond issue for facility improvements could not be used for school operations.

Our biggest investment is in people. More than 80% of Parkway’s operating budget goes to salaries and benefits, with the majority of those dollars supporting classroom teachers.

Parkway annual budgets and monthly statements are always available on our website here.

Most of Parkway’s funding—more than 90%—comes from local taxes, primarily on personal property and real estate.

State and federal funds also contribute, but they represent a much smaller share of our budget. State funds cover only 5% of Parkway’s operating budget. That means changes in local funding have a big impact on the district’s ability to pay for teachers, student support, transportation, utilities, and day-to-day school operations.

If approved, the proposal would provide operating revenue to:

• Attract and retain teachers and staff
• Fund school safety and security
• Provide classroom resources
• Support student programs and opportunities

District financial projections indicate that the additional revenue would reduce the amount of further budget reductions needed over the next 10 years.

The St. Louis County senior tax freeze is a local property tax relief program, authorized by state legislation and implemented by the county, that allows eligible senior citizens to freeze the amount of real estate taxes they pay on their primary residence.

How the freeze works for seniors:

• Frozen Tax Amounts: Once a senior resident is approved for the freeze, their eligible property tax bill remains locked at the amount it was in the year they qualified.
• Protection from Increases: Residents currently participating in the freeze would not pay the additional amount associated with the proposed Prop P levy. Their taxes will remain frozen even if voters increase the operating tax rate.

Impact on school districts:
While the freeze provides financial relief to seniors, it creates funding challenges for Parkway:

• Revenue Growth Loss: Parkway is projected to lose approximately $30 million to $33.1 million in revenue growth over the next 10 years because of the freeze, and it is a contributing factor limiting the district's revenue growth while operating costs for items like utilities and healthcare continue to rise.

The owner of a home with a market value of $400,000 would pay approximately $7 more per week. The actual amount would vary based on the property’s assessed value.

Residents who already participate in the senior tax freeze would not pay additional property taxes as a result of the proposal. Their eligible property tax bill would remain frozen.

Parkway’s enrollment has declined slowly in recent years, reflecting broader national demographic trends and lower birth rates across St. Louis County. However, the decline has not been large enough to reduce operating costs at the same rate.

Schools still require teachers, support staff, transportation, utilities, safety measures and other services to operate. At the same time, the cost of providing those services for each student has continued to increase.

Parkway receives limited state funding. The state funds only 5% of Parkway’s total operating budget. Last year, Parkway received only $835 per student from the state of Missouri.

Missouri lottery and casino gaming do help fund education in Missouri. However, last year, the state budget overestimated anticipated lottery and casino revenue, so state funding for Missouri schools fell short by $118 million.

To date, Missouri has not allocated sports betting revenue to schools. When sports betting revenue comes in, up to $5 million will go to the Compulsive Gambling fund after reimbursement to the Gaming Commission. The revenue from cannabis funds veterans' services, public defenders, and drug treatment programs, not public education.

Without the additional revenue, Parkway would continue reviewing budget reductions needed to address the projected gap between operating revenue and expenses.

Because most operating expenses support employees, schools and student services, future reductions could affect some combination of staffing, academic programs, student services, transportation and classroom resources. Specific future reductions would be determined through the annual public budget process.

In community meetings and surveys, we asked residents to share what they value, expect, and want us to prioritize.

• 91 percent of Parkway residents said the quality of Parkway School District provides a strong foundation for property values in the area.
• 81 percent said our schools are a source of pride for our community and we must maintain their quality.
• 81 percent agree residents get excellent educational value for the taxes they pay to the district   
• 92 percent said people expect the quality of their schools to be better than the surrounding communities.

Maintaining this reputation involves supporting teachers and staff, along with the programs and classroom environments that allow Parkway students to continue receiving the education this community expects.

Prop P would maintain teachers and staff, keep schools safe and secure, and continue our community’s top-rated status in the St. Louis area.