District outlines legislative priorities

The Creston Community School Board is hoping next year’s legislative session will help school districts fund newly mandated legislation and change some teacher licensing practices to increase the hiring of qualified staff.

The board went over the district’s legislative priorities Monday night, the list of which will be sent to the Iowa Association of School Boards by Aug. 19.

CCSD Superintendent Deron Stender was passionate about fully-funded state mandates.

“Just take House File 2612. For us, that’s about a $50k deficit that has to come out of the general fund,” Stender said. “Next year you’ll have round two of the funding for that. I’m frustrated. Most people that I know that I talk to about this say, ‘we have extra. We got ABC extra funding.’ There shouldn’t be beyond and there shouldn’t be anybody less.”

The reference to House File 2612 has to do with the state-mandated salary minimums for teachers based on years of experience.

Other items on Creston’s legislative priorities list include fully-funding preschools and having Supplement State Aid completed by legislators on time, in accordance with Iowa Code. For the past few years, this aid has been completed near the end of the session rather than the beginning, making it nearly impossible for school districts to submit their budgets on time.

Regarding modified teacher licensing, Stender explained many Creston substitute teachers have not been able to get their license due to student teaching restraints. These teachers have received experience, but technically need to do student teaching through a university to officially get their license, which costs money. Stender’s hope is for the legislators to let other teaching experience count as student teaching in order to get more people licensed.

In other school board news...

Stender said Keystone Equity Group, LLC is still interested in the land commonly referred to as ‘bus barn hill.’ Their hesitation stemmed from worries over TIF financing, which UCDA and the city of Creston are working with them on.

The board is awaiting an official decision from the Orient-Macksburg school district regarding the boundary split-up for the 2025/26 school year. While Creston did submit their preferred boundary plan, Stender said the district is happy to do what they need to do accommodate the families affected.

Travis Squires of Piper Sandler said the sale of bonds for the ECC addition went well, with almost all bonds being sold. They are excepting $1.1 million in debt payments per year, with prepay debt beginning in 2032. Any remaining bonds will be underwrote by Piper Sandler.

The board officially terminated their agreement with Red Lion Renewables, turning down a $1 million grant from the USDA. Original plans with Red Lion Renewables included a solar garden, a project eventually given to Alliant Energy. While the group offered alternative projects, the board did not find any of those feasible.