The Tarkio R-I Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. in the central office of the Tarkio R-I School District. The members present were Brooke Vette, Amy Hurst, Rachel Rolf, Sam Hannah, Jamie Barnett, Josh Wright, and Corey Martin.

Board president Josh Wright called the tax rate hearing to order. Tarkio R-I Superintendent Mr. Bob Heddinger presented the board with an assessed valuation comparison from 2025 to 2026. The comparison showed that the assessed valuation (AV) for the district increased from $108,605,078 in 2025 to $110,064,943 in 2026. This represents a 1.34% year-over-year increase in AV for the district. Mr. Heddinger pointed out that when the 2026 adjusted AV and the tax levy of $3.8574 are applied to each other the district will realize an overall increase of approximately $114,199 in operating funds when compared to 2025 funds. Mr. Heddinger also pointed out to the board that the CPI for this year was established at 2.7%. When this is factored into the overall picture the district experienced a net negative decrease of 0.2196%. This is what the state auditor’s office uses to calculate and establish the tax levy for the district. Mr. Heddinger then presented the following resolution to the board to set the tax rate for 2026:

It is resolved that the Tarkio R-I School District in consideration of the educational opportunities and expenses for the students, the maintenance of and care of facilities, and operational needs of the school district will set the tax rate ceiling at $3.1074 for the operating fund (Fund #1) and $0.7500 for the capital fund (Fund #4) for a total levy of $3.8574, the approved state auditor’s rate, with no voluntary reduction for this fiscal year.

After discussion, board presi-dent Josh Wright then read the resolution. Board members voted unanimously to approve the tax rate.

Consent Agenda

The consent agenda was ap-proved by a vote of 7-0 which included the following items with the exception of the substitute list and the hiring of Mrs. Hogue:

• The minutes from the June 17, 2026, regular meeting and closed session meetings and the August 11, 2026, special meeting

• Transfer of funds to pay certified teachers

• The hiring of Mrs. Teresa Hogue as special education paraprofessional

• Set the tuition cost for the 2026-27 school year at $4,500 for the first child and an additional $250 for each child after

• Approving Mrs. Marisa Hedlund as the Homeless Coordinator, Mrs. Kari Taylor as the Foster Care Point of Contact & Federal Programs Coordinator, and Mr. Heddinger as the Section 504 and Title IX Coordinator and the FMLA Compliance Officer

• Policy and Regulation 1300, the Student Transportation Plan – Policy 5620, the Nepotism, Conflict of Interest, & Financial Disclosure – Policy and Regulation 0342, Policy 4321, the State Special Education Compliance Plan for 2026-2027, the Seclusion and Restraint Plan for 2026-2027, substitute list for 2026-27, the district financial statement for 2025-2026 – published by September 1, 2025.

The substitute list for 2026-27 was approved by a vote of 4-0 with three abstaining. Mrs. Hogue was approved by a vote of 6-0 with one abstention.

The district financial reports were presented for the month and the board approved the bills for the month. A four-year utility report was provided. Mr. Heddinger pointed out several bills that are related to the start of school and are not part of the normal monthly bills. Mr. Heddinger provided an update on the MOCAAT Investments. These investments have realized $550,640 in interest since July 1, 2024. The district currently has $8,225,999 invested in both fixed and liquid accounts.

The TAC report for the months of July and August was presented. Mr. Heddinger shared with the board a letter from DESE that indicated the Special Education Department met all requirements for the 2025-2026 school year. Mrs. Taylor and her staff were congratulated on this significant recognition. Mr. Heddinger also shared with the board the school buses passed their spring/summer inspections with a 100% score. Mrs. Ellie Graves presented the board with an update on the new TeamMates program that the district will be participating in beginning this school year. This is a peer mentoring program that is designed to provide one-on-one support to identified students through a volunteer adult mentor from the community. Tarkio R-I will be the second school district in Missouri to be a member of this organization.

Administration Reports

Tarkio Elementary Prin-ci-pal/Tarkio R-I Assistant Superintendent Mr. Dustin Barnes reported on the following elementary, facility and technology updates. Registration was held in the elementary school on August 6. The online registration option was implemented this year for some of the documents. The preliminary enrollment is 162 PK-5, which is 19 more students than the school had to start the year last year. Work days for the staff were held on August 17- 20. Back-to-School Night was held Thursday, August 20. The first day of school will be held Monday, August 24, with a 12:30 p.m. dismissal. School picture day will be September 10. Indian Pride Day in the elementary will be Wednesday, August 26. All elementary staff and students were provided with a grey Indian Pride shirt and will all wear them on that day and occasionally during the year. New teacher training was held August 4. The PBIS team shared a training with the staff Monday, August 17, and the school will have its matrix bootcamp and reteaching on Thursday and Friday of next week. The math consultant from RPDC, Angela Dorsey will be here early in September to work with the math teachers. Preliminary APR, MAP and EOC data is out and they have been looking it over to make sure there are no errors. Preliminary data looks good and will be presented to the board later in the meeting. The work in the elementary is coming to a close. Cubbies and cabinets are being installed in the POD as we meet. Mr. Barnes thanked the custodial and maintenance staff for working around all of the projects this summer and for getting the building into great working order. Star testing will begin for all students August 31. All ELA testing must be done in the first 30 days of school.

Tarkio High School Principal Mr. Terry Petersen submitted a junior high and high school report which included the following information. Preliminary junior high enrollment is 76. Preliminary high school enrollment is 86. This is slightly down from last year’s initial number. Tarkio FFA members attended the Missouri State Fair. Keely Bredensteiner had the class winning Simmental calf/cow pair. Quin Staten showed the class winning spot gilt. Macy Stepp showed the fifth in class market lamb. Weightlifting, team camps and competitions have been completed and fall sports practices have begun. High school practices started August 10 and junior high practices began August 17. New teachers are getting acclimated and have had meetings with Mr. Petersen, mentors, and have attended a NW RPDC meeting. The custodians and maintenance staff did a great job getting the building ready for the year. They have had staff meetings, trainings this week over a variety of topics including behavioral expectations, sixth grade transition, policy updates, stop the bleed and intervention compass. Star testing will begin the week of September 8 and there will be a beginning, middle and end of the year assessment block. Open house will take place August 20 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. The sixth grade orientation will take place in the high school starting at 5:00 p.m. Additional policy updates and chromebook policy were shared with the board as well.

Mr. Heddinger gave the following report:

• MSBA Summary – Nothing to report.

• Elementary Renovation Project – Phase one of the renovations at the elementary is 99% complete. There are just a couple of items that are needed to finalize this project. The cubbies and cabinets should be completed by Friday, August 21. That will leave the special egress windows that will not be on-site until mid-September. This delay was out of the school’s control and an unfortunate inconvenience. The project went well; timelines, cost, and quality were all to the school’s satisfaction.

• DESE Update – The A-F report card created by DESE was submitted to the governor on June 30, 2026, as required by his executive order. How this will be implemented is still to be worked out, and the State Board of Education is yet to meet on this topic.

• Legislative Update – August elections saw Amendments 4 and 5 go down in defeat. The next General Assembly Session begins on January 6, 2027. The pre-filing of bills will begin on December 1, 2026.

• MOSIS and Core Data Submissions – The August Core Data submission has been submitted.

• Agenda items for the September board meeting – Mr. Heddinger shared the agenda items for the September meeting with the board. These include approval of board policy updates (if applicable), enrollment update, approval of the final budget for 2026-27, program evaluations – testing data (if available).

• Next Two Meetings – The Board of Education will hold the next two meetings on September 16 and October 21, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. in the superintendent’s office at Tarkio High School.

Old Business

Mr. Barnes shared an update on the district CSIP. The CSIP Committee met over the summer and Mr. Barnes provided the board with the revised CSIP plan. After some discussion the revised CSIP plan was approved by the board 7-0. He also shared the agenda, meetings, and discussion items.

Mr. Heddinger shared the summer activity payment list by sport/activity with the board. The total payment for this past summer was $17,793.75 with a total of 711.75 hours of camps, shootouts, weightlifting, and other activities covered by these numbers.

New Business

Mr. Barnes shared some preliminary APR/testing data with the board.

Mr. Heddinger provided a wrap-up to the elementary renovation project – phase one and then began a discussion on what phase two should look like.

There was no closed session. The meeting adjourned at 9:21 p.m.