Public Hearing Monday For School District Budget

The Glenwood School District Board of Education will hold a public hearing Monday evening  in the Glenwood Community High School Media Center to present the proposed 2015-2016 school district budget.

Following the public hearing, the board is expected to vote on approving the $40 million budget during its regular meeting. The State of Iowa’s school budgeting process, which requires all budgets to be certified to the state by April 15, represents an estimation of the revenues the district anticipates collecting while also giving the district authority to levy taxes accordingly. The district’s budget includes all district funds, projected expenditures and projected revenues, including state, federal aid and local tax dollars.

State aid represents 55 percent of the district’s regular education costs with the remainder of revenue coming from local tax dollars (36 percent) and federal funds (9 percent),

The school district’s proposed budget for next year shows a net decrease of more than $7 million from the 2014-2015 re-estimated budget amount. That nearly 15-percent decrease means the district’s property tax rate will go down to 13.73162 per $1,000 taxable valuation. The tax rate for the current fiscal year is 14.53879.

Glenwood Board of Education Secretary Kristi Buman attributed a high percentage of the cut to the removal of debt on the district’s $3.8 million auxiliary gym project at the high school and having no other capital improvement projects in the works.

“Last year’s (budget) amount had a lot to do with the new gym and in this coming year we don’t have as much expenditure there,” Buman said.

The 2015-16 budget also includes some speculation by the district on the question of allowable growth – the figure the state uses to set state aid to districts. With the Iowa State Legislature deadlocked in debate on allowable growth rates, Glenwood allotted a “safe” rate of 1.25 percent for the upcoming fiscal year. The Iowa Senate has offered a 4-percent allowable growth rate while the House is holding firm at 1.25 percent. The Senate has recently offered to “split the difference” at 2.625, Buman said, but the house nixed the offer.

“There’s still a draw between the Democrats and the Republicans after five votes and no one seems to want to agree,” Buman said. “If no one agrees it (the allowable growth) will be zero.”

A zero allowable growth would mean the spending limit for Glenwood and all Iowa school districts will be no greater than the previous year’s budget.

A closer look at Glenwood’s budget reveals the instruction line item, which covers staff salaries and benefits, to be, once again, the highest district expenditure at $17.3 million, an 8.5-percent increase from the previous budget round.

“There’s always a slight increase there with the cost of everything going up every year,” Buman said.
Support services, which covers the district’s administrators,’ guidance counselors’ and nurses’ salaries and benefits, library, building and transportation services shows a 7.7-percent increase from the previous budget round to just over $7.8 million.

The district’s other expenditures line item, which includes debt service and Area Education Agency support as well as facilities acquisition and construction shows a 19.1-percent decrease from last year’s total costs. The bulk of that cut is reflected in the district’s construction of the auxiliary gym project at the high school. That project, which includes new locker, wrestling and weight rooms is expected to be completed prior to the start of school this fall.

“With construction being down as the gym nears completion and the debt service going down with some bonds being paid down and paid off, you’re going to see some decreases there,” she said.
The public hearing to discuss the budget begins at 6:45 p.m. The regular board meeting will begin immediately following the public hearing.