The Tarkio Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. in the central office of the Tarkio R-I School District. The meeting was called to order by President Josh Wright. The agenda was approved as presented. The members present were Brooke Vette, Amy Hurst, Raymond Gebhards, Jamie Barnett, Sam Hannah, and Corey Martin.

The consent agenda was approved which included the following items:

• The minutes from the December 17, 2025, regular and closed session meetings

• Transfer of funds to pay certified teachers

• Updates to the TAC handbook policies

• The climate and culture survey results

• Resignations of Mrs. Hall as the EA assistant cross country coach and Mrs. Meyerkorth as the K-12 art teacher effective at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

Program evaluation was Early Childhood and PAT.

The district financial reports were presented for the month and the board approved the bills for the month. A three-year utility report was provided. The MOCAAT accounts have a combined $379,000 in interest earnings through December 31, 2025, on the reserve balances the district has invested with MOCAAT since July 1, 2024.

There were no public comments during the public time of the meeting. Mrs. Nikki Parshall submitted the TAC report for the month of January. Mrs. Blu Dow submitted the CTA report for January. Mrs. Stevens submitted a food service report that showed the number of breakfasts and lunches served in December. Mr. Thomson submitted a report for the gifted program.

Administration Reports

Tarkio R-I Assistant Superintendent and Tarkio Elementary Principal Dustin Barnes submitted an elementary report. Overall enrollment for the building is 149 total students and the overall elementary attendance percentage for the first semester sits at 95.5%. School came back into session on January 5 for teachers with an in-service day. The PBIS team met to discuss procedures and there was a staff meeting in the afternoon. The second quarter A.R. and Character Strong assembly took place on Friday, January 9. Following the assembly, the fifth graders re-taught the rest of the students the behavioral expectations. The third graders will perform a parachute routine during the courtwarming basketball game at the TAC. Elementary student council has been working hard this year introducing new ideas and will be sponsoring a Student of the Month in the elementary starting in January. Indian Pride Time is focusing on character strong words and reteaching expectations, along with student goal setting. Work is starting on the 2026-2027 calendar with some feedback already provided by the leadership team. Teachers will have the opportunity to provide their feedback soon. Upcoming events: February 5 – 100th Day of School; February 11 – Valentine’s Day parties; February 12 – As needed, Parent/Teacher Conferences; and February 17  – The Atchison County Spelling Bee in Rock Port. The DCI Consultants will be in the building for PD on Monday, January 26, with a focus on PBIS training and interventions. There will also be time in the afternoon for the third through fifth grade teachers to work on MAP prep and the K-2 teachers to work on title intervention times.

Tarkio High School Principal Terry Petersen submitted a junior high and high school report. Enrollment numbers are 77 in the middle school and 92 in the high school. The second semester started January 6. Academic and attendance awards were presented on January 15 to students. The school will administer the ASVAB test on January 30 to sophomores and select juniors and seniors. College visits are occurring at NCMC and NWMSU. The high school will have DCI training on January 26 as well as staff and leadership team meetings. The junior high academic bowl competitions have started on Thursdays. FCCLA STAR Events competition took place on January 14 at NWMSU. Jina Harbit won top gold in career investment, Brody Wennnihan top gold in job interviews and Star Hankins took top silver in early childhood education. All will move on to state. This week is courtwarming week and will culminate with a pep rally at Tarkio on Friday, January 23, followed by a CTA chili supper and the game that evening at the TAC. The FFA fish fry will be February 1 and the 71st annual Atchison County Band Day will take place at Tarkio on February 2. The Tarkio NHS will sponsor a community blood drive at the TAC on February 18.

Tarkio R-I Superintendent Bob Heddinger gave his report. The message for January was on legislative priorities for the upcoming General Assembly. These priorities are open enrollment, income taxes, property taxes, and the state budget. Three individuals signed up for the three open Board of Education seats so there will be no election. The three individuals were incumbent members Amy Hurst and Josh Wright and new member Rachel Rolf. Rachel will fill Raymond Gebhards’ seat beginning at the April 15, 2026, meeting. Thanks to all three individuals for their commitment to this school and community and special thanks to Raymond for his service to the school and community. The greenhouse project is all but completed, just need the walk door to arrive and be installed. The mysterious “smell” has potentially been resolved. This has been a troublesome problem to chase down, but we are confident we have this issue solved. The school received no bids for the athletic storage building. This was advertised for a month. Mr. Heddinger has started a conversation with Steve Proctor to see what he may be able to do to help with this project. Over the past several weeks, multiple vendors have been meeting with the administration in preparation for the elementary renovation project. These meetings are to help pull together a final scope of work, timelines, and budget numbers for the multiple projects to be completed. DESE is beginning the process to close the State Schools for the Severely Disabled. While this does not directly impact Tarkio R-I, there could be some indirect impact that has yet to be discovered. A Legislative & Governor’s State of the State Message update was given. As mentioned above, the priorities for the General Assembly will be budget, income taxes, property taxes, and open enrollment school choice. While it is early in the session, it is obvious from the quantity of bills filed this is going to be a record year. As of January 7, 2026, there were 2,097 bills filed compared to a little over 1,400 last year at the same time. Keep in mind last year was a record year with over 2,600 filed during the entire session. Missouri ranks near the bottom in teacher pay, per pupil expenditures, and in-state aid and Governor Kehoe and the General Assembly’s solution is to eliminate income tax (67% of the state revenue, $9 billion with no replacement model in mind) and blow-up the property tax system (which is where we get about 65% of our revenue locally) while at the same time giving $60 million to private schools, which have no accountability to anything or anyone. This is the fight we are up against and it is going to be an interesting one to say the least. During the State of the State Message, Governor Kehoe did state that the 2025-26 budget would not see any withholdings. The 2026-27 budget appears that it will be funded at current levels, meaning presently none of the increases DESE has requested are in the governor’s proposed budget. Again, this is early in the process, but we cannot be too upset by the preliminary numbers. The Executive Order 26-01 directs DESE to create a school “grade card” for all districts to be graded A-F. This will be fun to watch to see how the politicians use this tool against public schools. If you read the order clearly it states that public schools are subject to this measurement, but private schools may opt in if they wish to be measured. I cannot forget HB 2748 – Mandatory Physical Activity. This will require all students K-12 to have a 20-minute recess every day. Looks like we will be putting in some new playground equipment. This will be the second reading for the proposed 2026-27 calendar.

Mr. Heddinger shared the agenda items for the February meeting with the board. The list of items includes: approval of auditor, preliminary budget presentation for 2026-27, review bus contracts, school calendar third and final reading, legislative report, board policy updates, grant approval (FV4 and Enhancement Grants), graduate follow-up review, BOE program evaluation, and ADA accessibility and safety.

Old Business

The second reading of the 2026-27 school calendar (information item) took place.

Graduation has been set for Saturday, May 16 (not Mother’s Day).

Schools are sending in waivers.

CSIP Review – Focus Area #1 (information item) – Mr. Barnes gave a summary report on the area of collaborative climate and culture.

Mr. Heddinger gave an update on the elementary renovation project. They continue to meet with various vendors to pull together the scope of work, timelines, and budget numbers for the entire project. Once more specific information is available it will be shared with the staff, board, and community.

New Business

Mr. Heddinger discussed the mid-year budget review (action item). Adjustments to the revenues and expenditures were made to reflect where the district budget was at the midpoint of the fiscal year. These adjustments have revenues increasing from $9,919,559 to $10,004,290 while expenditures increased from $8,159,015 to $8,547,335. These changes make the new balance forward for the 2025-26 at $1,456,959. Mr. Heddinger did point out that most of this balance could be found in the geothermal rebate the district received in July for $1,124,852. With all of these adjustments, the overall total balances for Fund 1 will be at 41.70% at the end of the year. The board voted to approve the mid-year budget review as presented.

Mr. Heddinger brought up the lawn care extension (action item). Mr. Heddinger recommended the district enter a two-year extension for the 2026 and 2027 years with TLC Lawn Care at the current 2024 rates. The board voted to approve a two-year extension with TLC Lawn Care for the 2026-2027 school years.

Mr. Heddinger discussed the landscape projects for track/football field (action item). Mr. Heddinger presented three individual landscape plans to be completed around the football field entrance and concession stand area. After some discussion it was agreed to wait and see what the budget numbers for the elementary renovation project are before making any decision on these projects. No action was taken at this time.

The board met in closed session to discuss personnel matters at 8:46 p.m. The board exited closed session at 9:29 p.m.

Board members voted unanimously to offer Mr. Heddinger a three-year contract for the 2026-27, 2027-28, and 2028-29 school years as superintendent in the same capacity that he currently serves. They also voted unanimously to offer Mr. Barnes a three-year contract for the 2026-27, 2027-28, and 2028-29 school years as assistant superintendent and elementary principal in the same capacity that he currently serves.

The next two meetings of the Board of Education will be February 18 and March 18, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. in the superintendent’s office at Tarkio High School.

The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m.