Getting back in the black
Area school districts tighten budgetsBy ABIGAIL McWILLIAM, Messenger news editor
A warning administered by the Iowa Department of Education to cash-strapped schools in the area has been heeded.
Four local schools that were projected to be in the red when letters were mailed in March say they have taken measures to break even.
''The letter was sort of a snapshot in time using some trend information from the past,'' said Elaine Watkins-Miller, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Education. ''It was just an estimate - the purpose was to make them aware to see where they could be and make sure they were looking at this.''
However, some have interpreted the move as an early warning call to schools who regularly run over budget. This is the first year where the state can close a school that has been in the red for two consecutive years.
Letters were sent to 56 other schools across the state - including area school district Laurens-Marathon, but officials were not available for comment.
The Prairie Valley Community School District, which was estimated to have a $2.4 million budget shortfall will likely have a $280,000 positive balance, according to James Dick, Prairie Valley superintendent.
''We had planned to make changes prior to receiving the letter from the state,'' Dick said. ''Part of it was the estimate was based during a year where we had a switch of accounting practices, so we were never that far behind.''
However, the unfit estimate doesn't mean Prairie Valley hasn't been tightening its financial belt. When school doors open this year, the district will have dropped about 18 students, playing a role in the reduction of seven teacher positions, a few associates and two bus routes, Dick said. In his three years with the district, enrollment has dropped 71 students, he said.
Despite the loss of about $5,300 of state money provided per student, Prairie Valley will have a $160,000 positive unspent balance at the end of this fiscal year, Dick said.
''The letter did cause us to look at things and tighten budgets, but we're not negative and haven't been,'' he said.
Nonetheless, the expense of running a school district continues to grow - Prairie Valley is paying $26,000 more in fuel costs than it did a year ago, Dick said.
Other area school officials paint a similar picture.
Dennis Bahr, superintendent at Eagle Grove Community School District, targets declining enrollment as part of the district's financial woes.
''Eagle Grove schools have lost nearly 150 students over the last seven years,'' Bahr said. ''This year alone, if we still had those students ... we would have an additional $849,600 of income for our budget.''
The projected shortfall of about $858,000 in its 2009 budget has already been approached, he said. The district has cut about seven teaching positions, five associate positions, a middle school principal and cut the superintendent position back to part time, Bahr said. Meanwhile, dollars have been saved by upgrading the high school's heating system and by implementing academic sharing with neighboring district Clarion-Goldfield.
The Algona Community School District, a district with about 1,221 students, has fought to keep its projected $1.2 million shortfall for 2009 to a minimum with similar actions.
While the district will still end 2008 with a negative balance, it likely won't be in the same predicament the following year, thanks to retiring staff, said Marty Fonley, Algona Community School District superintendent.
Nine teachers retired following the 2007-2008 school year and the district only replaced one of the positions, he said. Additionally two administrative positions weren't replaced.
''We were fortunate not to cut positions while we did quite a bit of downsizing at the same time,'' Fonley said.
Meanwhile, in somewhat of an aberration, Algona saw an increase in enrollment last year, Fonley said. The district has about 1,221 students.
''Hopefully it won't be as bad as predicted,'' Fonley said. ''We know we've been overspending, and it's a trend we are correcting. It's not easy, but it will be done.''
Richard Caldwell, Pomeroy-Palmer school superintendent, agrees.
District officials are confident that cost-saving measures will drop its estimated $400,000 budget shortfall down to a more workable figure. The district of about 220 students lost 16 students last year.
''Those are just estimates,'' Caldwell said. ''We have to make some cuts just like every other school. It's going to be a tight budget situation.''
In the time being, an opportunity for academic sharing in Pocahontas will shave off some spending in 2009. A reduced bus route will save fuel costs and a bus driver's income. Energy-efficient measures such as replacing a boiler system and closing part of a building no longer used will also pitch in. Additionally some staffing cuts from full time to part time will have an impact, Caldwell said.
So are these local schools on the brink of financial disaster? Probably not.
''That's not an accurate characterization for the schools,'' said Watkins-Miller. ''You can not blanket that statement for all of those schools.''
Contact Abigail McWilliam at (515) 573-2141 or amcwilliam@messengernews.net
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Robertwilson
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08-02-08 3:50 PM
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DocBAM.. Is she your wife?? L.O.L.
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Anderson
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07-30-08 8:20 PM
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Pleased to see McWilliam did her homework; more than can be said for our newspaper of record in DSM, which did not bother to call Prairie Valley although it's deficit looked like one of the worst. One expects this from DSM, which also recently carried the story about male and female math scores but missed its main point. The DSM paper stated only that overall scores were now equal without mentioning the salient fact that many more males than females were represented at both the highest and lowest percentiles. In fact, males were 2 1/2 times more likely than females to score in the 99th percentile, which - God forbid - might help explain lack of women in math-heavy science and engineering positions as Harvard President Summer once speculated aloud and then was drummed out of academia by his politically correct faculty. Such is the state of bias, and tolerance, at our oldest university and Iowa's once great newspaper.
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DocBAM
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07-30-08 11:13 AM
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Great Article! This girl can write!
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