Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Implications of 1.25% State Supplemental Aid for CCA

Attitude is critical in all we do.  I believe mine is similar to most in the field of education.  I’m passionate and positive about serving the students and families at CCA specifically and Iowa in general.  While I agree that throwing money at something, in this case education, does not necessarily make it better; it is true that making improvements often does have a cost.

Per Iowa Code, State Supplementary Aid is to be established by the Legislature within 30 days of the start of the session.  This hasn’t happened for the last several years.  The FY 17 funding should have been established in February 2015; instead our FY 16 funding was established on July 2.  FY 17 funding for Iowa schools is still unknown.  Yes, this is frustrating as we attempt to plan to best utilize our fiscal resources to meet the needs of our students.  Iowa schools were obligated to approve our FY 16 budgets in April, without knowing what our revenues would be until after the start of FY 16.

CCA has traditionally placed a great deal of importance on maintaining small class sizes.  With funding levels from the State that do not keep pace with inflation, we will be forced to increase class sizes.  We have also worked to continually improve the educational process with updated instructional materials, professional development for staff, and new programs for students.  Without funding we cannot continue to develop the educational offerings to our students, as we would like.  Things like summer programming for struggling learners, new instructional materials, Project Lead the Way courses, transportation for student clubs, targeted trainings for staff, etc. all have to be reevaluated, and when the fiscal resources aren’t available, students will have to get by with materials and teacher skills currently available.

For CCA, 1.25% State Supplemental Aid will result in a projected decline in our Unspent Balance of approximately $600,000 in FY 16.  While our Unspent Balance will still be in solid shape at just under $7 million, we cannot continue to cut into our Unspent Balance on a regular basis.  The Board and administrative team will have to make some tough decisions heading into FY 17.  While State Supplemental Aid for FY 17 is unknown, the Legislature and Governor sent a clear message this year, so planning for somewhere in the 0 – 2 % range is probably realistic.  While CCA is in the relatively rare situation of having a growing enrollment, these levels of State Supplemental Aid will not support the levels of staffing that CCA students, families, and staff have been accustomed to.

There are several positive things happening in education at CCA and around the State.  CCA is implementing the Teacher Leadership and Compensation program this year.  This program from the State will be used to fund six instructional coaches in the district that will support teachers in implementing best practices into their classrooms, as well as approximately 40 Professional Learning Community Facilitators who will help to ensure that our PLC’s continue to develop and function at a high level in meeting student learning needs.  This program will help support the learning of students throughout the district.  The funding is there for this program, but the Task Force that worked on its development cautioned the Legislature that it is not an “instead of” for funding the regular programs at Iowa schools.  Another positive has been a focus on early literacy.  CCA is currently in our second year of providing summer school for young students who need extra support for developing their literacy skills.  In the summer of 2017 students in third grade who are not proficient on the Iowa Assessments will be required to be retained in third grade, or complete the summer school program.  Schools around the State have also been working to ensure the implementation of the Iowa Core Curriculum, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Science Technology Engineering and Math curriculums, etc. in order to meet the needs of our PK-12 learners.

While I am disheartened and frustrated by the actions and inactions toward education by the Iowa Legislature and Governor, I am also excited by the many positive things happening in PK-12 education at CCA and around the State.  I will continue to work to ensure that the students of CCA get the best possible learning experience with the resources available.  I will continue to advocate on behalf of CCA and PK-12 public education as a whole.  I will continue to publicize the many great things happening, as well as the challenges we face.

Educationally yours,

Tim Kuehl