By PETER HUSSMANN
The Newton Community School District's declining enrollment trends, exacerbated by the $1.5 million state-ordered cut to the district's coffers, could lead the Newton School Board to decide to close one of Newton's five elementary schools as early as this fall.
That was one of the bleak pictures painted by Superintendent Steve McDermott at the first of the five public meetings the district is holding to seek public input on how best to align its elementary school building system and find programming and staff reductions throughout the district to meet its $2.25 million to $2.5 million budget reduction target.
About 100 people attended Thursday night's meeting at Emerson Hough where McDermott presented an overview of the district's declining enrollment trends, the impact of the lost students on the district's bottom line and several elementary building alignment scenarios the board could consider to adopt. A copy of the information handout, which McDermott said had been mailed to all district residences on Monday, can be read here.
McDermott said the district had previously put in place a District Improvement Team to study the elementary school boundary and alignment situation a year ago. While the initial focus of the team was "primarily on school improvement for students and their learning, recent financial challenges have created an even stronger urgency to consider adjustments to the way educational services are provided to our local boys and girls."
The proposals on elementary school use provided in the handout concerning the alignment study offered ideas with costs savings ranging from $686,500 to $922,500, depending on the actions taken and which school building is closed. The various alternatives consider such things as closing the school administration building, moving the Basics and Beyond alternative high school back to the senior high (saving $40,000 in rent cost to DMACC) and moving the Four Oaks education program into a school building ($30,000 cost reduction), in addition to closing one elementary school.
Other considerations McDermott mentioned as possibilities at Thursday's meeting included placing all district fourth through sixth graders at Berg Elementary, incorporate a grade level-based school use building plan and keeping the current K-6 plan in place but doing so within just four buildings.
The plan that appears to have the highest viability is to divide the community in half north and south and place students in lower and upper level elementary schools in the two buildings on the east and west side of town. McDermott noted in outline this possibility that both Thomas Jefferson Elementary and Berg Elementary are currently built as three section per grade facilities. The remaining three schools are all two section.
The superintendent said that despite what plan is eventually adopted, class sizes will not be raised. He said the district currently uses a class size structure of 23 student in K-1, 25 students 2-3 and 28 students 4-6. However, many sections in the district are well below that rate with one section of fifth grade in the district having just 14 students.
The cost-savings currently identified for consideration amount to between $1.3 million and $1.9 million for the coming fiscal year. However, with overall district savings targeted at between $2.25 million and $2.5 million, additional cuts wold have to be found in the following year.
"None of this is going to be pretty," McDermott said. "It's sad we've go to do this."
McDermott said the district is currently using reserves to get throught the current fiscal year. He said at the start of the fiscal year, unspent balances stood at about $2.3 million, half of which will be used this school year.
The only other alternative would be to raise levy rates, a move the superintendent is loathe to make.
McDermott said that to enact the total amount of targeted savings through a levy increase, the current school district levy of $16.61 would have to increase $3.90 to $20.51. A Newton homeowner with a home valued at $100,000 value would see their school tax bill jump from $757 in the current fiscal year to about $1,020, taking into account the 6 percent state equalization order and increase in the rollback rate.
The urgency to the decision-making process for the school board is magnified by the fact that the district has to have its budget certified to the state by the middle of April and any staff reduction notifications made by April 30.
McDermott said the state of the district's budget makes waiting to the fall of 2011 to enact the elementary school boundary changes difficult.
"I don't think we have the time to wait until 2011," he said. "Our reserves won't hold up. We have to know before we plan our budget. I'd like to make a decision as soon as possible. We're here because we don't have enough money."
The Newton superintendent took questions from those attending, mostly comprised of parents of students at Emerson Hough and school teachers, for more than an hour.
Questions ranged from whether additions would need to be made to the remaining elementaries if one was closed (no), to whether the calculations considered the possibility of the district expanding its early childhood program (yes), to whether the district had been in any discussions about the possibility of merging with another county school district (No - "I can't marry money if they don't start dating me first.").
When asked, McDermott would not give specifics on the savings of up to $1 million included in the overview from staff reductions and terminations and program cuts district wide.
"We have to specify those eventually, but not today," he said.
Finally, McDermott was questioned by Walt Smith on whether Maytag family members or their foundation had been contacted about the possible closing of the administration building, a gift to the district from Maytag.
McDermott said he had not, but would do so, noting the savings from the closure would not be great but more "symbolic" of the administrations willingness to be included in the belt tightening the district faces.
Four more public meetings have been set throughout February with two set for next week, Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Aurora Heights and Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Thomas Jefferson. After the meetings are concluded, the district plans to invite residents to take bus tours to each of the elementary buildings.
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