A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit involving the St. Joseph School District and Chief Financial Officer Beau Musser after almost a year.

Musser filed suit last May against the district, former Superintendent Dr. Fred Czerwonka, former Human Resources Dir. Doug Flowers and Board Member Dennis Snethen.

According to court documents released by the St. Joseph School District Friday afternoon, Musser agreed to dismiss his claims against all parties for a settlement of $450,000.

Last month the board approved the settlement in a closed meeting by a vote of 5-0.

Click here to view the settlement agreement

Musser originally claimed he was placed on leave for continuing to question the practice of handing out stipends to administrators without the knowledge or approval of the school board.

Musser was asked to come back to work in November last year after being on leave for more than seven months.

The findings of a recent state audit report gave the St. Joseph School District and overall rating of “poor” and was critical of the district’s practices in a number of areas, including compensation, payroll procedures record-keeping and policies, summer school funding, the district’s financial condition, bonds, procurement procedures and construction projects.

In fact, the audit found that a staggering $25 million in stipends were paid over the last eight years that were “either unapproved, unauthorized or improper.” He estimated that total to be in excess of $40 million dating back to 2001. $3.8 million in stipends were paid in 2013-2014.