Iowa public schools cut staff, programs as enrollment falls and state funding fails to keep up with inflation

Iowa school districts are cutting staff, programs and closing buildings — and pursuing inventive education models in an effort to compete for students — amid yearslong declining enrollment and consequent funding losses.

The Cedar Rapids school board Monday is expected to approve one of three proposals to close and consolidate schools as a part of about $19 million in budget cuts. Last month, the school board approved a plan to reduce almost $13 million from the district’s annual budget.

The Des Moines Public School District is cutting more than $16 million from its budget — primarily by reducing staff through attrition and early retirements — amid a 3,000 student decline over the last decade.

Just this year, the Des Moines district reported a loss of almost 680 students. School officials anticipate losing 550 students each year until 2031, which would be a loss of more than $4 million in state aid each year.

The Boone Community School District is cutting $665,000 from its annual budget by eliminating the orchestra program, the middle school Family Consumer Science program, and full-time PE, art and music teacher positions in the elementary schools.

While the Council Bluffs Community School District is not cutting spending right now, it has seen up to 150 fewer students each of the last three years. This year, enrollment declined about 129 students.

While these four districts vary in enrollment — with Des Moines serving more than 30,000 students and Boone serving fewer than 2,000 — what they have in common is funding challenges as schools graduate more students than they gain in kindergarten and the Iowa Legislature and governor approve per pupil state aid increases that don’ meet inflation.

Shashank Aurora, chief financial officer for the Des Moines district, said the average increase to per pupil state aid of less than 2 percent over the last decade is “not sustainable” and has “led to budget cuts.”

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Aurora said the district will have to continue cutting millions of dollars in future years. While there is not yet a plan for how to do this, he said school leaders are discussing the possibility of closing schools. They also are examining their employees’ health insurance plan for savings, which Aurora said is “one of the richest in the state.” Any decisions would have to be approved by the Des Moines school board.

Aurora said the hope is to reduce or even stop declining enrollment in the next five years as the district works to improve facilities and create innovative programs. “We have to get competitive. Competition always hurts in the beginning, but it also makes people adapt,” he said.

The Des Moines district’s budget shortfall was calculated assuming lawmakers will set the increase to per pupil aid for schools at 1 percent or less, Aurora said.

Last week, Iowa Senate Republicans advanced legislation that would increase the state’s general K-12 school funding level for the next school year by 1.75 percent. This is lower than then 5 percent increase in funding Iowa educators are asking for, saying it’s crucial for keeping up with inflation, managing increased operating costs and making up for decades of underfunding amid statewide declining school enrollment.

In her budget proposal last month, Reynolds proposed a 2 percent increase in general K-12 school funding. House Republicans have not yet proposed a funding level.

Des Moines schools cutting staff, district’s central office building

Aurora said the Des Moines district is cutting $11.3 million by reducing staff through attrition and early retirements. He said he did not have the exact number of how many staff positions this would be, but said there are more than 60 staff leaving through early retirement. There are about 250 staff who leave the district every year.

With the reduction of teaching staff, student to teacher ratios will be made more consistent across district schools, Aurora said. Staff who teach specials like art, music and physical education, for example, might be reduced from full-time in one school building and travel to another school to provide services during the day.

Walnut Elementary School will close at the end of the school year, saving the district about $2.2 million, Aurora said. There are almost 200 students who attend the school. The school was planned to be closed last year under the district’s “Reimagining Education” plan, which included a $265 million general obligation bond that was approved by voters in November.

The district also is selling its central office building, an anticipated $3.3 million in savings.

School leaders still are working on a plan to reduce about $1.5 million more from the budget, Aurora said.

The district’s Reimagining Education initiative is an investment into career and technical education, preschool, improving learning outcomes and modern facilities. The plan hinged on voters approving the multimillion dollar school bond referendum last year, which they overwhelmingly did by nearly 74 percent.

Boone schools cut orchestra, teachers

The Boone school board approved district cuts last month in a more than two-hour meeting, an hour of which was spent hearing from community members advocating to maintain programs.

Sue Gradoville, retired Boone Middle School counselor, said the cuts “give families more reason to open enroll” out of Boone or avoid moving to the community to begin with.

During public comment last month, Gradoville said the cuts come “at the expense of the middle school.” She urged the school board to reconsider while directing ire to state lawmakers.

“Our state needs to find a better way to fund public education, and I have reached out to those politicians. Until then, don’t take away the magic,” Gradoville said.

Boone school board member Matt Elthon said cutting the orchestra program was “the best way to impact our budget.”

“You have to cut eight to 10 other programs from a sports standpoint to equate the one standpoint of orchestra,” Elthon said during the meeting, which was streamed on YouTube.

In an effort to continue budget cuts, school officials are considering moving to the state’s model of providing free transportation only to families that live further than the state required distance for the 2027-28 school year. Currently, every student in the Boone district rides the school bus for free.

The district will need to continue to look for ways to reduce expenses in coming years as long as enrollment continues to decline and revenue fails to keep pace with inflation, according to a post on the Boone school district’s Facebook page last month.

Schools plan to ‘draw families in’

Council Bluffs Superintendent Vickie Murillo said the district is “always pivoting to ensure we don’t have to make too deep of cuts” amid declining enrollment.

According to 2025-26 data from the Iowa Department of Education, there were 4,800 fewer students enrolled in K-12 public and accredited non-public schools in Iowa, a national trend driven by lower birth rates and fewer students progressing from grade to grade. The National Center for Education Statistics projects public schools will see a decline in enrollment of almost 5 percent nationally by 2031.

Non-public schools also are drawing students away from public schools. Non-public school is more accessible than ever to Iowa families because this is the first year since Education Savings Accounts were created in 2023, that all families became eligible for them. The state reports that more than 40,000 Iowa students are using ESAs this year.

Murillo said there are 230 students within the Council Bluffs district using ESAs.

“I do want parents to have choice and choose us,” Murillo said. “I want people to say, ‘Council Bluffs is a great place for my child to be educated. You wouldn’t believe the opportunities.’”

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In 2018, the Council Bluffs district was early to offer students a diploma “plus one,” encouraging all students to graduate high school with a college credit or an industry recognized credential. It’s an initiative many Iowa public schools have launched since as a way for students to explore careers and be prepared for life after graduation.

The district this year launched an online school through the virtual learning platform Edmentum in an effort to complete for students — and it’s working. Murillo said the district gained back 33 students through the program.

Murillo said the district is able to retain 40 percent of per pupil state aid of the students enrolled in the program. The other 60 percent is used to pay Edmentum. The district also retains additional categorical funds that comes with student enrollment like teacher leadership and compensation, which can be used for professional development and “things that impact teaching and learning,” Murillo said.

Last month, the Iowa State Board of Education approved Council Bluffs district’s application to open a charter school — tuition-free schools that are publicly funded, but independently run under an approved charter with the state. In Iowa, charter schools receive per-pupil aid from the state, just like public schools.

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The school will serve up to 400 high school students and emphasize science, technology, engineering and math and use real-world problem-solving and community partnerships based on workforce needs and community aspirations.

It’s another way to offer innovative programming and stay competitive to hopefully attract and retain more students in the district.

Even so, Murillo said the district likely will need to “trim” the budget in the future as — like most Iowa public schools — they graduate more students than enter kindergarten because of declining birth rates.

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