Board session offers no discussion of referenda failure

VIRGINIA- While the St. Louis County school board heard presentations on district performance measures and supports during its working session on Nov. 10, one topic was notably missing from the agenda— the defeat of the district’s referenda for funds to address its budget crisis.
The meeting opened with the board canvassing the votes from the school board election, certifying the outcomes of the special election ballot questions, and authorizing the official election certificates. Following these actions, the board transitioned into its working session.
Although the district saw the defeat of two ballot referendum measures, at no point during the meeting did the board discuss the failure of either referendum, its financial implications, or the potential budget reductions that might follow.
In an interview shortly after the election, district Superintendent Brian Masterson said the defeat of the ballot measures will lead to increased cost-cutting across the district.
“Even if it had passed, going into next school year we would have to make cuts because we’re going to be in SOD [Statutory Operating Debt], and even if the referendum would have passed, we wouldn’t have seen that money for another year,” Masterson said.
Masterson said he hopes to have a better sense of how much the district will need to cut in the coming few weeks once the district finishes its ongoing audit.
“I hope to have that kind of dollar amount here in the next couple of weeks, as we need to start the work and make sure we plan this out so it impacts kids the least amount,” Masterson said.
Masterson said that the district will be looking at everything as it considers cuts.
“We do not want to close our schools. We need to look at our staffing and our programming, and class sizes, and how many staff we have. You know, beyond just what is in the classroom. So whether that’s administration, custodial, bus drivers, support staff, and teachers, and everyone else, we got to look at every single area in the district,” Masterson said.
Student achievement
Kristi Berlin, the director of teaching and learning for the district, gave the first of the four presentations to the board. She discussed the district’s Annual Achievement and Civic Readiness Report, previously known as World’s Best Workforce. The presentation outlined statistics regarding academic achievement, achievement gaps, attendance, graduation rates, and student engagement.
Academic results showed improvements in mathematics across several student groups. However, significant racial disparities remain between white and American Indian students. Overall mathematics proficiency stood at 31 percent, but was only 15 percent for American Indian students and 35 percent for white students. The gap between the two groups grew by about 4 percentage points since last year, despite both groups seeing some improvement overall.
Disparities also existed along economic lines. Math proficiency was approximately 27 percent for students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, and 35 percent for students not eligible for those benefits.
Even larger gaps existed in reading scores, where proficiency among American Indian students was 22 percent, compared with 44 percent for white students.
Changes to state testing and assessment standards regarding reading scores meant that the district is still establishing a reliable baseline for measuring progress, so the results could not be compared to past years.
Berlin described ongoing efforts to address the racial disparity through targeted interventions.
Attendance was another area of concern. The district’s goal was to achieve attendance above 90 percent, but attendance has hovered between 60 and 70 percent in the past few years, landing at 67 percent in 2025.
Berlin attributed the continuing difficulties partly to changing attitudes toward school attendance since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Berlin said that data was being collected to examine the reasons behind student absences, which she generally attributed to disengagement, mental health concerns, and family circumstances.
Meanwhile, the district reported a graduation rate of 93 percent, exceeding its 90 percent target. Berlin explained that some students who begin ninth grade do not complete their education within the district, although determining whether they have transferred elsewhere can be difficult. The district continues to offer credit recovery and alternative learning programs to help students complete their education.