No agreement yet on Iowa school districts' budgeted aid increase

DES MOINES - Nearly a quarter of the state's school districts budgeted for a 4 percent increase in state aid for next year, even though lawmakers have yet to sign off on exactly how much they're willing to spend.

State aid is also called allowable growth. It's a percentage increase of the state per-pupil cost to be calculated for the upcoming budget year and determined by the Iowa Legislature.

The level of allowable growth, however, is tied to the session's education reform package. Republicans and Democrats have agreed to a 2-2-4 allowable growth formula that would give schools 2 percent more, plus a one-time payment equal to 2 percent for 2014 and 4 percent growth for 2015.

But Republicans said their support for allowable growth is contingent on Democrats accepting language that includes student test scores as part of teacher evaluations.

“I can tell you we did zero percent,” said Rep. Frank Wood, D-Eldridge, an administrator in the North Scott School District who also is one of five Democrats negotiating the education reform bill. “I think each district has to look at its own finances and make a determination. For us, we kept it at zero, even though we've decided not to replace several positions that we lost to an early retirement incentive we offered.”

The report from the Iowa Department of Management says of the 346 school districts that set their budgets by April 15:

• 216 districts (62.4 percent) certified with a 0 percent allowable growth rate;

• 38 districts (11 percent) certified with a 2 percent allowable growth rate;

• 12 districts (3.5 percent) certified with a 3 percent allowable growth rate;

• 80 districts (23.1 percent) certified with a 4 percent allowable growth rate.

Dan Smith, executive director of the School Administrators of Iowa, said districts have different reasons for setting their budgets, such as how much they have in cash reserves or the expected growth in their student population.

“I think it's unique to each district, and it's directly related to their financial health,” he said.

An agreement on education reform remained elusive Tuesday, which also was the deadline for school districts to send out pink slips to teachers and staff who don't fit in next year's budget plans.

Rep. Quentin Stanerson, R-Center Point, an economics and government teacher in the North Linn School District who is one of five Republicans negotiating the education reform package, said he keeps in touch with his fellow teachers and superintendents on the progress of education reform with email blasts he sends at least weekly.

“I think it's important that we do the work, but I certainly would have liked to see this move faster,” he said.

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School districts across the state had to certify their budgets this year without knowing how much state aid they can count on. That state aid – also known as allowable growth – is the increase in per pupil funding covered by the state. The allowable growth rate for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 won't be finalized until an education reform bill is signed.

The majority of school districts hedged and budgeted for 0 percent allowable growth for the next year, but nearly a quarter of them certified for 4 percent allowable growth. The chart below shows where school districts set their budgets at for the coming year.

By Chris Essig/Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

Source: Iowa Department of Management