Educators across the state are concerned with the state of an education reform bill that has its first airing in the Iowa Legislature on Tuesday, January 22nd. The education plan is very high priority to Governor Terry Branstad and he has stated that he wants the plan approved prior to voting on educational funding, which could potentially put schools in a tough spot.
West Central Valley Superintendent Dr. David Arnold said that its unfortunate that the timeframe to vote on the funding is pushed back because Iowa law states that allowable growth is supposed to be determined within the first 30 days of the year, yet Arnold can’t recall the last time it happened within that timeframe.
We asked if potential spending cuts would be specific in nature but Dr. Arnold says that’s not necessarily how it would happen. “Sometimes there are specific cuts, but 8 or 9 years ago we experienced a flat $250,000 cut in the general fund,” Arnold explains. “And that came right in the middle of the school year.”
The timing of cuts in educational spending can often be as difficult to overcome as the money involved and Arnold points out that if you’re in the middle of a contract for a project and the funding gets cut, you’re still in the contract the school agreed to and without the funding you were expecting.
West Central Valley has been operating under the assumption that there will be no new money for the budget, but if current funding were cut, it would make things difficult for a school district that has seen a decrease from last year. The last annual headcount for the West Central Valley School District had a loss of 19 students, which means the schools are already going to receive around $135,000 less in the budget than the previous year, and Arnold says that loss will likely lead to a reduction in staff. However Superintendent Arnold says that West Central Valley is better off than a number of nearby districts that could be hit even hard by possible budget cuts.
On Tuesday, January 22nd, Governor Branstad said that the reform plan could be passed in 5 weeks and the sooner things get resolved and the numbers are figured out the better for districts like West Central Valley, who has an April 15th budget deadline looming.