Fort Osage R-I vs Mount Vernon City
MO · 4,718 students • OH · 3,374 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Fort Osage R-I and Mount Vernon City spend within 2% of each other per student once local price levels are accounted for.
- Mount Vernon City directs 4 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than Fort Osage R-I.
- Fort Osage R-I reports fewer students per teacher (13.3 vs 16.5). This is a staffing ratio, not an average class size.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Fort Osage R-I | Mount Vernon City | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 4,718 | 3,374 |
| Schools | 11 | 8 |
| Grades served | PK–12 | PK–12 |
| Setting | Rural | Town |
| County | Jackson County | Knox County |
| State | MO | OH |
| Local price level (US = 100) Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 92.5 | 92.8 |
The headline dollar
Current operating spending per student, shown three ways. The first is what each district reports. The second and third are the honest ones for comparison.
| Fort Osage R-I | Mount Vernon City | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $14,021 | $14,257 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $15,151 | $15,367 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $14,366 | $14,909 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
Fort Osage R-I
Mount Vernon City
Where the money comes from
The funding mix determines how exposed a district is to local property values, to state politics, and to federal programmes ending.
Fort Osage R-I
- Local 46.3% Locked
- State 45.6% Locked
- Federal 8.1% Locked
Mount Vernon City
- Local 45.5% Locked
- State 37.9% Locked
- Federal 16.7% Locked
| Fort Osage R-I | Mount Vernon City | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 46.3% | 45.5% |
| State share of revenue | 45.6% | 37.9% |
| Federal share of revenue | 8.1% | 16.7% |
| Total revenue | Locked | Locked |
How MO funds its districts
The Foundation Formula: a state adequacy target per weighted average daily attendance, less a local effort deduction.
How OH funds its districts
Fair School Funding Plan: a computed base cost per pupil, shared between state and district by local capacity.
Where the money goes
The same slices in the same order for both districts, plus the differences by function — because two pie charts side by side hide exactly the thing you want to see.
Fort Osage R-I
- Instruction 52.6% Locked
- Instructional staff support 5.9% Locked
- Student support 6.7% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 12.2% Locked
- Transportation 5.2% Locked
- Food service 5.4% Locked
- School administration 3.8% Locked
- District administration 6.6% Locked
- Other support 1.6% Locked
- Other current 5.4% Locked
Mount Vernon City
- Instruction 57.7% Locked
- Instructional staff support 4.7% Locked
- Student support 7.7% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 8.6% Locked
- Transportation 3.0% Locked
- Food service 3.5% Locked
- School administration 10.1% Locked
- District administration 1.5% Locked
- Other support 3.1% Locked
- Other current 3.5% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Fort Osage R-I minus Mount Vernon City. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Fort Osage R-I | Mount Vernon City | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 58.5% | 62.4% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 10.4% | 11.6% |
| Transportation share | 5.2% | 3.0% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Fort Osage R-I | Mount Vernon City | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrollment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | 13.3 | 16.5 |
| Students per counselor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| Fort Osage R-I | Mount Vernon City | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Children aged 5 to 17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 12.9% | 13.8% |
| English learners | — | — |
| Students with disabilities | — | — |
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -6.4% | -9.9% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Fort Osage R-I
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
Mount Vernon City
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
| Fort Osage R-I | Mount Vernon City | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -6.4% | -9.9% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
The same checklist for both districts. Every "required" below links to the sentence it came from.
Fort Osage R-I
Enrollment - Fort Osage R-I School District
Registration runs through Infinite Campus. Read August 25, 2026.
Mount Vernon City
https://mtvernonk12ohus.finalsite.com/enrollment/kindergarten-enrollment
This district’s website asks automated readers not to fetch this page, and we honour that. The link is the district’s own and works in a browser; we simply have not looked at it. Every row in this column says "page not read". Open it yourself: it is the district's own list, and it governs.
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
Fort Osage R-I
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
Mount Vernon City
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrollment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
- Required the page says so, and the sentence is quoted.
- Mentioned only it comes up, but not as a requirement — often a sentence saying the district cannot demand it.
- Not mentioned we read the page and it was not on it. That is not the same as "not required".
- Page not read we have no enrollment page for this district.
Documents to bring
| Fort Osage R-I | Mount Vernon City | |
|---|---|---|
| Proof of residency | Required “Proof of residency to upload as a document or image (1 document required for returning students, 2 documents for new students).” | Page not read |
| Proof of age (usually a birth certificate) | Required “The only people who can be listed as parent/legal guardians are the people listed on the child’s birth certificate.” | Page not read |
| Immunisation records | Required “Updated immunization information to upload as a document or an image” | Page not read |
| Physical examination | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Dental, vision or hearing screening | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Tuberculosis test | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Records from the previous school | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| IEP or 504 plan | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Custody or guardianship paperwork | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Parent or guardian photo ID | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Home language survey | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Emergency contact information | Required “Updated contact information for parents, guardians, emergency contacts” | Page not read |
| Proof of income | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Social security number Asked for by some districts. It is not required to enrol, and a school may not refuse a child who does not provide one. We list it because districts ask, not because you must answer. | Not mentioned | Page not read |
How enrolling works
Locked 11 steps of the enrollment process — deadlines, appointments, proof of residency — are not shown. What to bring is above, and stays free.
- A blank row means the requirement did not appear on the district’s page. It does not mean the district will not ask for it — published lists are routinely incomplete, and the registrar has the final word.
- Requirements change every enrollment season. Check the district’s own page, linked above, before you gather anything.
- A district cannot condition enrollment on your child’s immigration status: under Plyler v. Doe (1982) every child resident in the district is entitled to a free public education. If a district asks for something that would reveal status, you are not obliged to provide it.
- If your family is in temporary or shared housing, the McKinney-Vento Act lets a child enrol immediately without the residency and records documents listed here. Ask for the district’s homeless liaison by name.
Comparability notes
- Cross-state comparison. Dollars below are shown both as reported and adjusted to a common price level, because a dollar buys different amounts of teacher in MO and OH.
- At least one district sits outside a metro area with its own published price index, so its cost adjustment uses the statewide index. That is a coarser adjustment.
What these numbers are, exactly
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Fort Osage R-I
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
Mount Vernon City
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
| Fort Osage R-I | Mount Vernon City | |
|---|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | $6,179 | $6,979 |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | — | — |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | 37.9% | 40.4% |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $0 | $0 |
- Fort Osage R-I: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- Mount Vernon City: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. It records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
Who sits on the board
Fort Osage R-I board of education
- Mrs. Stephanie Watson — President term ends 2029
- Mr. Tim Brown — Vice President term ends 2028
- Mr. Chris Gross — Member term ends 2027
- Mr. Floyd Hawkins — Member term ends 2027
- Mrs. Gwen Hefner — Member term ends 2028
- Mr. Dustin Schnakenberg — Member term ends 2029
- Mr. David Shrout — Member term ends 2029
- How many seats the board has: “Fort Osage is governed by a seven-member Board of Education.”
- The public may speak: “If you would like to speak at a board meeting, you must fill out a ‘Request for Public Participation’ card 20 minutes before the meeting begins.”
- How long a term runs: “Residents of the district who wish to serve a three-year term on the Board of Education may file their candidacy at the District Office located at:”
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-24. Boards change; the district’s page is the current record, not ours.
These seats are elected, and what this board decides — the budget, the attendance boundaries, the calendar — is decided at a meeting the public may attend. The district’s own board page, linked above, is where it publishes the schedule and the agenda. We do not hold meeting dates or contact details for these people.
What this band does not answer yet
The detailed figures for Fort Osage R-I and Mount Vernon City
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student
- total revenue and total current spending, and the funding mix in dollars (the percentage shares stay free)
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counselor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
- the enrollment process — deadlines, appointments and proof of residency
$1.79 for both, for three months, 21 cents less than buying them one at a time.
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