The Warren County R-III School District is enlisting the support of the community in an effort to improve teacher salaries. The district will seek a 39-cent tax levy increase during the Aug. 6 election.Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith said the district continues to struggle with staying competitive among area districts, which has had a profound impact on the turnover rate.“The goal is to retain 90 percent of staff,” said Klinginsmith. “This year it’s still early, but we’re projected to be higher than in the past.”Klinginsmith believes the district’s implementation of four-day school weeks beginning with the 2019-20 school year has begun to positively impact teacher retention rates.“We feel like the four-day week is helping,” said Klinginsmith. “But we are still losing people to other districts for more money.”Klinginsmith said the expectation isn’t to pay more than surrounding districts, but simply be comparable.“Our goal is to be within $3,000 all the way through the salary schedule compared to Wentzville,” said Klinginsmith. “Right now we’re pretty close at the beginning but have a big gap at the back end.”The biggest gap in salary differential is currently $18,000, with an average of about $10,000 a year.“That’s what the teachers are leaving for,” said Klinginsmith. “What we’re asking for is 39 cents to help us close that gap between us and the surrounding school districts.”The last time the district sought a tax increase was in 2004, with voters supporting the increase. Currently, R-III has the lowest tax rate and assessed valuation per student in both Warren County and St. Charles County.The tax impact on a $150,000 home would be an increase of about $9.27 per month, or about $111 per year.Warren County R-III’s current tax levy is $4.223 per $100 assessed property valuation. Without any other yearly adjustments, the proposed tax increase would make the district’s total levy $4.613 per $100 valuation.“Funds would start coming in January of 2020, and we would start negotiating salaries in spring and have new salaries for 2020-21 school year,” said Klinginsmith. “What we really are focusing on here is this is for kids, and not just for teachers. Relationships are extremely important. We want to put the best systems in place so that we can keep those relationships with those teachers.”Tax rate