FD schools face budget crunch
Enrollment decline could precipitate revenue lossBy IAN SCHMIT Messenger staff writer
Two weeks ago, members of the Fort Dodge Community School District Board of Education said there would be no reason to panic over the state budget cuts that would cut around $1.9 million from the district, as the district would be able to make up the cut with cash reserve dollars.
Now, the district may be facing "an unprecedented financial situation," said board President Stu Cochrane Monday evening.
The change in attitudes stems from a drastic drop in revenue for the district due to the way the Department of Education now calculates certified enrollment, which has changed dramatically from previous years, said Superintendent Linda Brock.
The district calculated they were down around 25 students from last year.
The DOE calculates around 130.
"The problem with the certified enrollment this year is that it is a totally different system than how it has been done in the past," said Brock. "We're not comparing apples to apples, they're counting different students in different ways."
According to the DOE, the Fort Dodge School District has a certified enrollment of 3,825.72 students.
"But we're not real clear what they've added and subtracted to get that number," said Brock, "If it truly is 130 students down, that's a major, major loss of revenue for our district. It would basically eliminate any allowable growth in our district, which only compounds our budget situation."
Brock said the board currently has a call in to the DOE to find out how they are counting students now in relationship to how they counted students in the past, so that the district can provide accurate numbers.
The district approved an early retirement package to help the district meet its budgetary needs.
For qualifying full-time staff, in addition to severance pay the employee would be entitled to up to five years continued participation in the district's group health plan.
In order to qualify, full-time employees must be 55 years of age before June 30, 2010, and must have a minimum of 15 years of consecutive service to the district.
"We have a better chance of keeping more teachers in front of the students this way," said board member Jerry Schnurr. "And I think it will help us reach our financial goals in a much sounder way than doing nothing."
A total of 106 employees are eligible for the plan. If every eligible employee takes part in the incentive plan the district would realize a maximum savings of $1,768,435.04.
Schnurr said that a number of the positions would not be replaced after they are vacated.
"I don't know this, but I suspect there's a number of districts out there that their only recourse is they're going back and they're taxing," said Cochrane. "We're fortunate enough that we're not doing that."
Contact Ian Schmit at (515) 573-2141 or ischmit@messengernews.net
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luckymom
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10-28-09 1:35 AM
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absolutely agree with how unfortunate it is that there isn't enough books for each student to go around. We really need to get back to educating the kids, how do you study without books?? I havn't figured it out yet. As for doing away with the AEA, how rediculous! If you have ever had a child that needs extra help due to a learning disability the AEA is invaluable. While the classroom teachers only teach one way, the AEA can help the students and teachers figure out ways to learn that are outside the box. My son is dyslexic and the AEA works with the parents to find the best solution to help the child learn. With their help, and the help of their teacher my son is now reading at grade level. If there is a service out there that helps kids to learn and to be more confident in themselves through learning this town needs to learn from them. Too many kids drop out because school is frustrating and hard. Support the AEA as well as your childs teachers.
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km1230
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10-27-09 10:21 PM
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Only a few weeks after they announced that there will be additions to the school system (new buildings and additions to Butler). The budget also wouldn't be an issue if they would have decided against spending a bunch of money on the football field at the stadium. What's wrong with making things work with what they have...what a waste when kids have to share text books or teachers don't have the materials needed to do their jobs adaquately, or students with disabilities don't get the associates needed to function in mainstream classes.
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km1230
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10-27-09 10:10 PM
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not real surprising that FD school system would be facing a budget crunch. Only a few week after
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km1230
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10-27-09 10:10 PM
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not real surprising that FD school system would be facing a budget crunch. Only a few week after
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justwords
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10-27-09 5:22 PM
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Politics and their made up way of how to count...makes you wonder if any of them actually went to school!?!
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DodgerTime
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10-27-09 11:51 AM
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Is that a paragraph? I can barely understand what you're trying to say. How ironic that it's posted after an article about education in our town :)
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Samiam
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10-27-09 3:46 AM
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let them eat cake? oh we can't do that its to many calories..Is firing some of the top heavy administration an option we can explore?..its worth a shot...AEA could be trimmed back and hopefully eliminated too since they mostly want to drug our kids instead of other available options or in this instance we just had to get them working on more advanced studies oh wow that was so hard to figure out we just needed to challenge them vs drug them as AEA wanted to do.
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