CCSD reduces four positions, looks for money-saving opportunities

After months of planning, four district positions were approved for reduction Monday by the CCSD School Board. Reduced positions were not identified in order to first contact the employees. This reduction comes after a heavy decrease in enrolled students and, therefore, state aid.

Between a decrease in approximately $430,000 in state aid and operating and pay increases, the district has an estimated $980,000 in new costs.

In order to make up some of this money, the TLC, a teacher leadership program, is ending, with staff from the program moving to other positions in the district. There will be a number of involuntary transfers, in which an employee is moved from one position to another without consent, due to the reduced staff and the ending of the TLC program. There will also be savings once custodial and transportation services for the ECC on Elm Street are terminated.

Between the reduction of four positions, the involuntary transfers and at least a 2% increase in state supplemental aid, the district will have an estimated $960,000 in new revenue. This results in a budget variance of about -$22,000.

In order to generate more money, the district has looked into numerous programs, including operation function sharing. The Iowa Department of Education describes this as an incentive for districts to reduce costs by sharing personnel. Not only do districts save money by splitting the pay of an employee, the state also will provide different amounts of money to each district depending on the position.

Money from the state comes through FTE, or full-time equivalency, which schools use to measure enrollment. For every FTE student, the state provides about $8,000 to the district. Each position in operational sharing carries a different FTE weight. For example, if two districts were to share a superintendent, each district would receive an additional 9 FTEs, or $80,000, from the state.

Other operational sharing positions include HR manager (4 FTEs), transportation director (4 FTEs), curriculum director (2 FTEs) and special education director (2 FTEs). A district is able to obtain 21 FTEs through this program.

CCSD Superintendent Deron Stender said he has spoken to superindentents in a number of districts about operational sharing. However, many schools have already paired up for these positions.

The Lenox School District has expressed interest in sharing an HR manager and transportation director, along with other possible positions. Lenox would pay for 20% of the employee’s contract, with the employee working in Lenox once a week. Both districts would also get the equivalent FTEs.

“That can make an impact on your budget projections going forward. If we do this, the money follows a year later,” Stender said

The superintendent explained student retention is an important way to generate income for the district. At the moment, 30 students living in Creston are open-enrolled to other online schools.

“A survey will go out to our families this week looking to start online, for resident students only,” Stender said. “Our resident students that are already open enrolled to CAM or Shenandoah, start retaining some of those students. If we retain 10 of them, that’s $80,000.”

Stender said while the original program would only be open to Creston students, the district might allow open-enrollment in the future.

Another way to retain students and therefore generate more income through the state is by utilizing a homeschool program. This program would assist parents and students with material and provide academic support as needed. Homeschool students in Creston currently utilize Lenox’s homeschool program.

In other school board news...

ECC and Elementary Principal Callie Anderson shared with the board how House File 2618, passed last year, will affect the school district.

“This is a house file that extends the early literacy implementation that impacted grades K through three. This has now been extended to impact grades K through six,” Anderson said. “The gist of it is, we have to continue to screen and intervene and progress monitor until the student is reading at grade level. Best practice said that past grade three, you kept screening and intervening. Now it’s saying you must until the student reaches grade level, even past grade six.”

Anderson explained the district has already been following these guidelines. The only change will be continuing the program into the middle school.

This legislation also allows parents to request that their student is held back a year if the student is persistently at risk or not reading at grade level. The district is no longer able to deny this request.

The board set public hearings on two different topics, the 2025/26 certified budget and the 2025/26 school calendar. The budget hearing will occur at 5:30 p.m. on two different dates, March 24 and April 21, in the central office board room on Elm Street. The calendar hearing will take place at 5:40 p.m. on March 24 in the same room

The school board approved the following list of February 2025 contracts and resignations:

Contracts: Paul Martin, cook; Sandra Shimer, cook; Sophia Short, para; Pam Bruns, nurse.

Resignations: Alexis Ward, para.