PACIFIC, Mo. – After a decision to close a school, a parent group in the Meramec Valley R-3 School District is working to bring in the state auditor to investigate the district’s spending.

“With the state audit, we wanted to do a deep dive investigation on where the dollars are being spent (and) are they being spent wastefully,” Jenna Bell, parent, said.

Bell is not the only one with these concerns.

“It seems like money is being spent unequally amongst the students,” Dawn Wood, parent, said. “Why would all the children who are in a certain area get a brand new, shining school and all the other kids are going to get shoved together… it doesn’t make any sense.”

The district has laid out a plan to close an elementary school, combine other schools and build a new middle school.

“We’re not concerned with (getting a state audit), we have a third-party auditor from public schools,” Superintendent Carrie Schwiejohn said. “They audit us every year, we report that to the State of Missouri every year.

By closing the school, the district will save $400,000.

“Every year, we’re looking for efficiency and that’s the biggest task and challenge for a Board of Education right now,” Schwiejohn said. “Not at all (disappointed parents are asking for a state audit). Our parents and our community are so supportive of our school district; they love their schools.”