Budget reductions seen across county school districts

 Budget discussions continue at the Red Oak Community School District as it prepares for $1 million in reductions throughout the next two years. 

While nothing is finalized, Superintendent Terry Schmidt said the school board is leaning toward around $800,000 in cuts for next year, and more specific areas to reduce are being examined. 

At the level of cuts proposed, Schmidt said the district could lose upwards of 16 full-time positions, including seven teachers, which he said is less than ideal, so the board is looking to other possible cost-saving options. 

“We took this discussion to the next level and asked each principal to discuss the ramifications of certain numbers of cuts in their building,” Schmidt said following the two school board meetings last week. “This is something the board is giving serious thought, and they really were just listening and asking questions.” Some possible reductions being considered include: not filling a full time substitute position, saving $10,000; reducing hours for para-educators one day a week, saving $29,000; eliminating three-four assistant coaching/extra curricular sponsor positions, saving $10,000; and exploring other options for district-wide recycling, which currently costs an average of $1,000 per month. 

The district could also save around $50,000 through combining two fulltime positions. Pete Wemhoff, the Department of Maintenance/Operations Director, resigned recently, and the board agreed to combine the position with the Department of Transportation Director role, filled by Carlos Guerra.

Schmidt said this is being done on an interim basis, but if it works, it could mean a teaching position may not need to be cut. 

Sharing other positions could be another source of financial relief, specifically at the secondary level. 

“What could happen is more sharing between the middle school and high school, and Inman and Washington could see smaller cuts,” Schmidt said, explaining class sizes are already full at the elementary level. 

The school board will host a public hearing March 31 at 6:30 p.m. to adopt the district’s budget, which is proposed at around $23,350,000 for 2015, a decrease of more than $500,000 from 2014. 

Despite the declining budget, Red Oak residents will see a decrease in the property tax levy, from $16.66 down to $15.98, according to Schmidt. 

He said this reduction is because it will take less money to fund the budget next year than it does now because the district has a strong cash position.

Red Oak is not alone in making significant budget cuts for next year. 

In Stanton, Superintendent Chris Herrick said the district is looking at around $70-90,000 in cuts for the next fiscal year, most of which will be achieved through attrition. 

While enrollment was down 10 students from last year, Herrick said one of the main reasons behind this reduction is the Iowa legislature’s policy change regarding budget guarantee. 

In the past, districts received a locked in amount of funds from the state, even if enrollment decreased. That guarantee has been phased out and the Stanton district will now see a reduction of more than $96,000 in state funding from 2013 to 2014.   

“We are always looking at ways to save more money and become more efficient,” Herrick said. “Our job is to educate kids and we can’t do that if we are getting less and less funding and then have to cut teaching positions. Like a lot of other districts, we’re in an OK financial status but still looking to make reductions to our expenditures because there is an enrollment decline.”

The Stanton district held a public hearing on its budget last night, and the final budget will be certified by April 15. 

Southwest Valley will also be seeing cuts in both the Villisca and Corning districts. 

Superintendent Willie Stone said the school boards will be meeting this week to go over the budget, and he declined to comment on specifics until that time. 

“I will say we are looking to make cuts in both districts, but we want to do so in a way that has the least impact on our programming,” he said. “With whole grade sharing, each district needs to do what is necessary to remain viable.”