St. James R-1 Board of Education directors on March 11 approved an increase in employee health insurance spending.

The district covers the base insurance package for all employees, which currently costs $660 per employee per month. For the 2026-27 school year, the base package is increasing to a rate of $697 per month. The board approved raising its contribution to match the new rate. The financial impact to the district of this 5-percent increase is $80,000, according to Superintendent Tim Webster.

“$80,000 is a lot of money, obviously, but comparatively to what we’ve seen before — we went in the consortium and had a little bit more protection — it’s about $50,000 to $60,000 cheaper than what we were seeing,” Webster said. “So really, the raise is considered, in the insurance world, very minimal.”

Webster also noted that the average increase in insurance rates is usually around 7.5 percent, so a 5-percent increase is modest. The district currently has 181 participating employees.

“It’s been common for us to pay this for our employees over the last several years, and (it’s) really not much of an adjustment compared to what we’ve done in years past,” President Jon Rapp said. “We’re not changing the plans. There’s just a cost increase.”

The board also approved hiring KPM CPAs, LLC to conduct the district’s financial audit on a three-year contract.

The district sent out audit bid requests to 15 different companies, and only heard back from KPM. The Springfield-based firm has served more than 70 school districts, including nearby Lebanon and Waynesville.

“The one thing that I think hurt us from receiving more bids, we did put a requirement in there that we wanted them to come to us,” Webster said. “I do think that is not the standard anymore.”

KPM will review finances for the district and its component unit, the St. James School District Foundation. Audits ensure taxpayer money is being handled properly by checking how money is spent and whether the district is complying with state and federal rules.

According to KPM’s proposal, starting with the current school year, the district will pay $23,600 for year one, $24,800 for year two and $26,400 for year three.

“ When it comes to KPM, we use them at (Phelps County Bank) and have for several years,” Rapp said. “They’re extremely professional. They’re very good to work with. I think even though we only got one response, (it’s) probably the best response, in my opinion, that we could have gotten.”

In other news, Webster shared in his facility report that flooring repairs in the high school history hallway have begun. Though the original plan was to do partial repairs, it was determined that some floors needed to be completely ripped out. 

These additional repairs are still covered by insurance and are expected to be completed by summer.

“We were hoping we didn’t have to go that route,” Webster said. “But the plus side is, when they did it within their means of what insurance was going to let them use just to (do repairs), and we replaced the whole thing — it’s kind of a win towards the district.”

Bids for brickwork repairs on the high school building have opened, and the district has received two so far. Webster said that cost estimates for the work have been significantly lower than what the district was expecting.

The board also approved transferring a $1,000 donation into the operating account, which will be used to cover students’ unpaid lunch balances.

“Pretty cool stuff, what you see our community do when we have a need,” Rapp said.