Linn-Mar’s declining enrollment contributing to $2.5 million budget cuts

MARION -- Historic underfunding of state per-pupil aid, the expiration of federal pandemic relief funds and declining enrollment are factors challenging the Linn-Mar Community School District’s fiscal year 2025 budget, Superintendent Amy Kortemeyer said.

The district is making $2.5 million in budget cuts this year and reducing 50 staff members, including 19 teachers and 31 classified staff, such as paraprofessionals, office workers, custodians, bus drivers and business managers.

Other cuts include early separation agreements with central office staff, including one of the district’s two associate superintendents.

Individual school building budgets are being reduced by 10 percent, bringing a cost savings of $112,000, said Jon Galbraith, Linn-Mar’s chief finance officer. Individual school budgets pay for subsititue teachers, office supplies, professional development and travel to attend training conferences.

The 2.5 percent increase in state supplemental aid next year — the amount of funding taxpayers provide per-pupil — is inadequate, Kortemeyer said. Inflation is impacting every sector of the economy and “school district’s aren’t an exception to that.”

State aid runs a fiscal year behind. The district's student count in October 2023 will be used to determine funding for the fiscal 2025 budget, which begins July 1.

The Linn-Mar school district saw a decrease of 118 students this school year. About 54 of those students left the district for private school using state-funded tuition assistance, Kortemeyer said.

Public school districts receive about $1,200 for every student within their district who uses the state-funded, private school tuition assistance, called Education Savings Accounts.

Galbraith said that funding is helpful, but it’s restricted to certain uses for particular categories of students, special programs or special purposes.

But behind the difficult budget decisions, Kortemeyer said, “is a community rallying to support our kiddos. Our educators and staff do amazing work. We don’t want that to become lost. Se want that to be the focal point as we weather these challenges.”

“We remain focused on the changing needs of our students while balancing the impact to taxpayers and being fiscally responsible,” she said.

$105.5M budget

Linn-Mar’s planned general fund expenditures budget is proposed to be $105.5 million, an increase of $2 million from the current fiscal year.

The general fund is the largest fund for a school district, with about 80 percent of it used to pay salaries and benefits for teachers and staff.

The district’s overall expenditures, however, are decreasing $4.6 million to $148.9 million this fiscal year. This is partly because some of the district’s capital improvement projects will be completed or nearly completed in the current fiscal year.

Those projects include the tennis courts built at Oak Ridge Middle School, 4901 Alburnett Rd. in Marion, and the new administration building that district leaders plan to move into by this fall.

The move from the Learning Resource Center at Linn-Mar High School will create more space at the school once the move is completed.

A public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday, April 22, at the Learning Resource Center, 2999 10th St., Marion. The school board is expected to vote on the proposed budget after the public hearing.

Property taxes

The proposed budget calls for a levy rate of $17.99 per $1,000 in taxable valuation, about a 10 cent increase from the current rate. For a homeowner with a $200,000 home, the property tax bill for schools would be $1,580 per year, or about $131 a month.

One of the contributing factors to the tax levy increase is an additional 35 cents in the management levy, which funds property, liability and cybersecurity insurance for the district.

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