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A few weeks after the announcement, after school board meetings and budget work sessions, area school districts have created action plans to deal with the budget crunch.
Graettinger/Terril
The Graettinger/Terril District will be dealing with a $191,793 reduction in its budget as a result of the statewide budget cut.
G/T Superintendent Randy Collins says the district is taking the same approach as many other Iowa districts.
"The timing was really ideal for us because we had regular board meetings scheduled the week after the cut was implemented. We're typical of what a lot of the districts are doing," said Collins. "We're going to use our cash reserves."
Collins said the district will also likely raise property taxes to bridge the funding gap.
"The state is just not sending us the cash that they promised us when we did our budget," he said. "We have to go to our local property taxpayers... In order for us to recoup the $191,79,3 we estimate that we will have to raise the tax rate by $1.40 per 1,000. For our farmers, we're looking at a buck an acre."
Collins said the district is also looking at cuts in expenses.
"We're really working hard to reduce our operating costs," said Collins. "Any place that we can trim expenses, we do. We're going to keep the cuts as far away from the kids as we can."
Collins says he is especially concerned about potential budget shortfalls in 2011.
"The Department of Education started in July to be very open about this year being the good year, because the State of Iowa used a huge amount of stimulus money to backfill the cuts that should have happened," said Collins. "We're being told by the state that at the very best we may see no allowable growth, and that it's possible, in fact even probable, that the growth will be negative - a reduction in funding. That' s my big concern. We need to be talking to our legislators and let them know this is going to approach a crisis level next year if we continue to reduce the commitment that the state has made to the school districts."
Collins said he hopes the legislature takes a close look at its program costs in the next session.
"If I had one message, and I am meeting with state legislators and communicating real clearly - either you do have to raise taxes to acquire the revenue in order to fund programs or you have to cut the programs. You can't have it both ways... The state needs to make some serious choices about the programs that they're going to fund. I support teachers making more money and I support educating four-year-olds, but it's obvious the state can't afford to do that."
Harris-Lake Park
The Harris-Lake Park School District loses $129,126 as a result of the across-the-board cuts. School board members discussed the fund reduction at a meeting on Oct. 19.
H-LP Superintendent Dennis Peters says the district is looking at its reserves along with some money-saving options.
"We will use cash reserve funds as needed," said Peters. "[Some other solutions will be to] reduce Teacher Salary Supplement by the 10 percent cut, reduce overtime for non-certified staff, reduce utility costs, reduce transportation costs, issue no additional contracts unless required, and understand that small savings will add up."
Peters also said he hopes the state legislature will take a serious look at the next budget to avoid making the same mistakes next year.
"If this continues into 2010-11 and beyond, our choices will be to raise property taxes or reduce staff or both," said Peters. "The state is pushing their obligation to fund education with state foundation aid tax dollars (income and sales tax) to local property taxpayers. I find the total lack of leadership and vision from our state government very frustrating. It's hard to believe that the state can't prepare a budget where education is a priority. School districts are not asking for more money, just what we expected to get from the state through the state funding formula. This cut of $129,126 was already budgeted to be used for the current school year. We need leadership from our governor and legislators!"
Okoboji
In Okoboji, the school district leaders are looking at a $411,756 cut. At a special meeting on Oct. 22, the school board discussed the cut and its effects on the school.
"There's not much that we can do right here right now for this particular fiscal year," said Okoboji Superintendent Bob Miller. "The fact of the matter is that 80 percent of our budget is salaries and benefits that we are contracted to follow. We can't cut transportation, and we don't even have that much in supplies."
The Okoboji district will dip into its reserves this fiscal year to cover the budget cut amount. The district has approximately $1.4 million in reserves, near the auditor's recommended amount of $1.5 to $2 million.
"We'll be OK this year," said Miller. "It's next fiscal year that I'm really concerned about. They're talking about another shortfall, and I've read anywhere from $500 million up to $1.2 billion depending on how revenues come in... The good thing - or at least a silver lining type of thing - is that we're up 50 students. That's going to help offset some."
Miller sees a turbulent legislative session on the horizon and hopes education will come out of it without new scars.
"This legislative session is going to be terrifically important for not only the schools of Dickinson County but the entire state," said Miller. "We need to have strong leadership from the district level to the State Department of Education to the Governor's office to the state legislature. I realize it's an election year, but there are going to be some tough decisions that have to be made. I hope the people in Des Moines don't worry so much about being reelected as much as doing what's right for the state."
Spirit Lake
Spirit Lake's school budget is reduced $556,345 by the recent across-the-board cuts.
Superintendent David Smith says the school board is reviewing its options before making decisions on the budget cut.
"We've met and discussed it at a work session," said Smith. "Basically what we're doing right now is we're still looking at all the options. We're looking at using cash reserves and looking at different ways to be more efficient with our money... We'll report back to the board on our findings here in the next month or so."
The Spirit Lake district has approximately $1 million in cash reserves.
"That's one area we look at immediately," said Smith. "We also have the option to borrow, and we're looking at what's out there and how we can be more efficient... It's tough times for everyone right now, but the good news is that Spirit Lake schools have done a good job over the last couple years of focusing on their budget and building the cash reserve. That's positive. If this would have happened a couple years ago, the outcome may not have been so good. We're really doing a good job of prioritizing for our district and spending accordingly."
Smith said a raise in property tax will be among the last options the district looks at for dealing with the budget cut.
Along with the cut from the state, Smith says declining student enrollment creates another budget crunch for the district.
"We're down just a little over 40 students from last year," said Smith. "That equals close to $300,000 next year. We're going to have figure out ways to address that as well... We can't anticipate what's going to happen in the future. There may be another 10 percent cut.
Like most schools, you plan for the worst and hope for the best."
In an effort to further educate the district's patrons about the budget cuts, the school is hosting a Spirit Lake Schools Spotlight meeting at 7:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6 at the Spirit Lake Public Library. A presentation on the budget is scheduled for 8 a.m.
Graettinger/Terril
amount cut from budget: $191,793
action plan: use cash reserves,
look at a raise in property taxes,
trim expenses
Harris-Lake Park
amount cut from budget: $129,126
action plan: reduce Teacher Salary Supplement,
reduce overtime for non-certified staff,
reduce utility and transportation costs
Okoboji
amount cut from budget: $411,756
action plan: dip into reserves,
plan for another cut for the next fiscal year,
consider a minimal increase in tax levy
Spirit Lake
amount cut from budget: $556,345
action plan: continue to analyze options
look at cash reserves
increase efficiency