News : Enrollment decline, state funding decisions may lead to VS staff reductions in future years

By Dean Close, Editor

Facing a continually declining enrollment and the "minimal" 1 percent increase in state funding for the coming budget year, the Vinton-Shellsburg School District is facing a likely reduction in staffing, says Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock.

"We are down a lot of kids for this year and had already started the discussion of how to address it. We anticipate we will have as many roads to drive, lights to turn on in classrooms, and other "fixed"� costs next year as this year even though we have fewer students in the buildings," Hainstock explains. "We anticipate we will have to address the decline in enrollment over a two- or three-year plan and the state's minimal additional support will only make the situation more difficult to address."

The superintendent points out that staffing represents 80 percent of the school's costs.

"I anticipate we will need to reduce our staffing levels. And this is likely to impact programs." says Hainstock. "We anticipate having staffing recommendations for the 2017-18 year for the board's review sometime early this spring."

Hainstock also explained the difference in school budget sources, and specific expenditures.

"While some people might ask about the funds we spent on upgrading the athletic complex during tough financial times, I would remind them that the funds we used for the upgrades were either donated from the community (about 40%) or funded through the 1-cent local option money which cannot be spent on salaries or benefits," she said.

Enrollment figures

The official enrollment numbers of a district do not necessarily reflect the actual numbers of students in its buildings. There is a complex formula for county official students.

Hainstock provided the following enrollment summary:

1534.5 is the official number from this year that we use for next year's budget calculations.

When we were doing this work last year, it was 1591. When we were doing this work in the spring of 2015, it was 1584. Another way to share it, year by year: FY11 Enrollment - 1798.0 (based on official count in October of 2009) FY12 - 1731.4 (based on official count in October of 2010) FY13 - 1687.1 FY14 - 1648.3 FY15 - 1584.4 FY16 - 1592.1 FY17 - 1591 FY18 - 1534.5 Keep in mind these numbers aren't necessarily reflective of how many kids are in our buildings - there are changes based on open enrollment in or out and the preschool numbers are not included.