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