MARION, Iowa (KCRG) – On Thursday, the Linn-Mar Faculty District confirmed that fifty full-time workers positions within the district can be reduce for the 2024/2025 college yr.
At Monday’s board assembly, the district introduced that regardless that they made roughly $3 million in cuts this college yr, one other $2.5 million must be made for the subsequent one as properly.
“As a district, we’re targeted on managing these monetary challenges whereas striving to reduce the affect on our operations and the standard of the tutorial expertise our college students obtain,” stated Amy Kortemeyer, Superintendent. “We don’t make these choices frivolously, as every workers member serving our faculties offers distinctive worth to our college students and households. Nonetheless, we should take motion to stability our finances and meet our obligation to take care of a wholesome monetary place.”
19 full-time educating positions and 31 full-time categorized workers positions can be reduce as a part of the finances cuts.
The district has cited a mix of expiring COVID-19 reduction funding, low funding from the state legislature, and declining enrollment as elements within the monetary shortfall.
“We’re lucky to serve a neighborhood that helps its native faculties and the folks behind them,” stated Kortemeyer. “We stay dedicated to balancing our finances and providing the very best academic expertise for our college students. We would like our workers and neighborhood to know that we are going to persevere by way of these challenges collectively.”
You may learn Superintendent Amy Kortemeyer letter to district households and workers under:
Pricey Households,
I’m writing to let you recognize that, this previous Monday in the course of the Board of Training Assembly, the Linn-Mar Group Faculty District introduced roughly $2.5 million in reductions for the subsequent, 2024-25, fiscal yr.
To stability the finances, the district has made reductions in a number of areas, together with these each associated and unrelated to staffing.
These are very tough choices for us to make. Many college districts throughout the state are going through the identical dilemma as we’re, largely on account of years of underfunding of state supplemental help (SSA), the lack of ESSER (COVID reduction) funding, and a drop in licensed enrollment.
Up to now, now we have taken a number of steps to deal with the finances shortfall, together with gathering cost-saving concepts from workers, providing early separation incentives to academics, extending these identical incentives to directors, and conducting a survey to gauge workers members’ intentions for the subsequent college yr.
The district made about $3 million in cuts this college yr. Nonetheless, subsequent yr’s reductions can’t be achieved by way of gadgets unrelated to staffing, early separations, retirements, or resignations alone. On condition that 80% of the district’s basic fund finances includes salaries and advantages, we might want to cut back our educating workers by 19 full-time equal (FTE) positions and categorized workers by 31 full-time equal (FTE) positions for the 2024-25 college yr.
Workers members affected by the reductions have been notified. We count on that some class sizes will return to pre-pandemic ranges because of these actions (i.e. 21-25 on the elementary degree). We glance to make these finances reductions whereas minimizing, as a lot as potential, the affect on our college students and the standard schooling they obtain.
Public faculties are the guts of our neighborhood, and our collective voices can be utilized to advocate for sufficient funding for public faculties. Please contemplate contacting your state legislators about this essential concern.
Thanks on your assist of the Linn-Mar Group Faculty District and the scholars we serve.
Sincerely,
Amy Kortemeyer, Superintendent
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