New teacher base salaries, the 2025-26 budget and a small increase to breakfast prices for the upcoming school year were approved Thursday at the North Callaway R-I School District Board of Education meeting.

Base teacher pay will increase from $36,000 to $38,000 annually. The board also approved increasing the base for non-certified employees from $13.75 to $15 hourly, and increased those not on the salary schedule by 5%. A budget workshop document said the district will use the Baseline Salary Grant to ensure a base teacher pay of $40,000 and a base of $46,000 for teachers with a master’s degree plus 10 years of experience. For employees not on the salary schedule or the non-certified salary schedule, it reflects a 5% increase, the document stated.

One other increase in the budget is 4.7% increase in employee health insurance, which is $695.94 per year per employee for employee health insurance that the board pays 100% for employees for the 2025-26 school year. 

A total operating revenue budget of $14.3 million was approved. Breakfast prices will jump from $2.75 to $2.85 for kindergarten through 12th grade next year. The price for lunch for K-5 will rise to $3.20 from $3.10 and the price for lunch of 6-12 will move to $3.70 from $3.60.

In her superintendent’s report, Kenya Thompson updated the board on the progress of the construction of the new elementary school, whose substantial completion is set for April 2026. Mass grading on the building is approaching completion, and site utility installation has started. 

“The biggest thing you’re going to notice is come next week, we should be pouring some slabs,” Thompson said. “So that is progress.”

Thompson discussed Senate Bill 68, which has 44 provisions related to education.

“It is overall quite friendly to public ed, in comparison to some legislation that could have been proposed,” she said.

She noted the cellphone ban portion of the bill, and it requires that school districts to have a policy that bans student cellphone from the first bell to the end of the day, with some exceptions included, such as for medical situations. Gov. Mike Kehoe has yet to sign the bill, but Thompson said it is anticipated that he will do so.

The board heard about a Missouri State Highway Patrol bus inspection report conducted on the fleet for North Callaway, which received a 90.5% approval rating, which is higher than the state average of 82.9%.

The news was equally positive for the district’s attendance rate, as the percentage the district met - 88.13% - was slightly higher than the district goal -  87% - and an increase from 2023-24, 84.20%. Three of the four campuses also exceeded attendance rates for this year over the previous year, as trustees learned the middle school earnd its highest student attendance rate (86.74%) since its inception, and the high school (87.36%) and Williamsburg Elementary School (93.81%) had their highest student attendance rate since before Covid. District officials said they have set a goal of “90% of our students attending 90% of the time” for the 2025-26 school year.

Also, on the school finance front, the board heard that the foundation formula, including an increase in the state adequacy target from $6,760 to $7,145, has been fully funded by the Legislature for the 2025–26 school year, but final approval awaits the governor’s signature. Thompson said she expects the formula to be line-item vetoed, and North Callaway officials in their budget did not account for the increase because they don’t think it is likely to happen.

Among other developments, the board also heard about the district’s culture and climate survey, with district officials saying in the overall summary they are “making significant strides at improving the climate and culture of the district for students, staff, and families” and that the district “must continue to push for high expectations and rigor for our students, but our students, parents, and staff believe we are very capable.” A focus on effective communication at all levels, internal and external, is a goal. The survey was conducted this spring.

Data from the survey showed more staff - from 52 in 2022-23 to 91 in 2024-25 - took the survey in recent years, as did more parents, from 101 in 2022-23 to 187 in 2024-25. And the survey had some positive findings, as nearly 90% of parents either agree or strongly agree with the statement that their child is treated fairly at school.