The Santa Fe Board of Education met in regular session Thursday, Feb. 12 at Santa Fe High School. In his report, Superintendent Derek Lark focused on the future of the Santa Fe school district. He reviewed several pieces of legislation for the board and indicated he intends to host a ‘Town Hall’ style meeting in the future to educate and inform interested stakeholders.

“Recent enacted laws have made the future of public education, specifically in rural Missouri very, very bleak,” stated Lark. Mr. Lark pointed to several recent laws that have negatively affected the district’s budget, including minimum salary schedules.

“While we would love to pay staff more, our revenue does not keep up with the added expense,” Lark said. “Salary and benefits make up approximately 78% of our budget; present revenue streams will not sustain these costs into the future. I told our lawmakers in Jeff City that rural public schools did not have a sustainable revenue stream that would keep up with the increases… they approved the law regardless of the warning. The salary minimums did not harm larger schools, as they have ample revenue and were already meeting the salary minimums; the changes only harmed smaller public schools that did/do not have the revenue base. Now, there are various bills being considered at the capitol that would prove to further harm our district, including cuts to property taxes, which make up a majority of our revenue. It sounds good for any legislator to tout tax cuts; however, cutting taxes when the state is estimated to have a shortfall of two, possibly $3 billion dollars next fiscal year, is simply irresponsible. There are no shortcuts to the problem. If the state moves blindly forward with this legislation, patrons will have two choices: Make up the difference through increased local taxes or watch the district erode; and it will not take long. It should also be noted that Missouri is near the bottom in the nation in state funding for public education. At the same time, $50 million in general revenue expenditures was added to the Governor’s budget to pay for vouchers for private and charter schools, and it is proposed to increase dramatically moving forward. What does this mean to the patrons of Santa Fe? The taxes we pay for a quality public education system locally in the Santa Fe district are now in part going to pay for the private education of students around the state. I find that appalling. If families choose to send their kids to a private school, I respect that 100%; but that’s their choice, the public should not have to pay for it. Prior, vouchers were privately elected as a tax write off. Now it is automatically coming out of general revenue, public tax dollars paying for private education; many would say that is unconstitutional.” Mr. Lark went on to say, “… it makes me angry. We have done our job in providing a quality public education for our kids and community, and I simply want to be supported in the capitol. The district has a long history of pride in the quality of its education system, and indeed we have ranked in the top 6% of public k-12 districts two out of the last three years. We don’t deserve to be marginalized at every turn. The Santa Fe R-X school district deserves to be supported.”

In other business, Mr. Lark shared that district buses passed inspection with a 100% passing rate and he commended Mr. Jeff Buford for his oversight. He also reviewed the district’s Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, noting areas of proficiency as well as areas for improvement and possible revision.

In their reports, building principals Stacey Smith and Paula Brown recognized the following: Mrs. Smith Missy Hinz–Donated medical supplies Krista Buford—Basketball scorebook Ashton Sander— Basketball scoreboard Mrs. Brown Destiny Medina, Makenna Stephens, Addison Buemer and Hallie Schuster for success in recent math contests where Stephens qualified for state competition!

Greenhand FFA Conference was held in Sedalia on January 6th Mrs. Nevels took Sophomores to Lex La-Ray Tech center for a tour.

AgriLeaders held her Winter kick off meeting and dinner.

Coach Leabo held a JH Cheer Camp StuCo held Blood Drive Mrs. Nevels held a scholarship night with seniors Keastin Kitchen signed to play VB at Sterling College Academic All-State Volley ball (3.6 Cumulative GPA & played in at least 75% of all Varsity Sets for the 2025 Fall season): Keastin Kitchen, Mia Lark, Victoria Morton, Abbi Mueller, Ava Plattner, Mae Vandiver, Sue Vandiver In action items, the districts federal Title programs were reviewed, along with the Media Services program and the School Climate/Safety program where recent improvements to district safety measures were highlighted. The Board then took recommendations from Mr. Lark on health insurance rates, which were ultimately approved at a board contribution rate of $641, representing an increase of 3%. Lastly, the board was forced to table action on the 2026-27 calendar, as the state board of education denied all 160 waiver requests from Missouri schools to start on Aug. 18, which is the traditional week for most schools to begin. Mr. Lark said they would work on a revised calendar for the March board meeting.

In executive session, Mr. Lark reviewed building administrator evaluations and accepted the resignation of Maleigh Rabenau and retirement/resignation of Missy Hinz, with regrets.

The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.