Cedar Rapids families advocate to keep their schools open amid spending cuts

CEDAR RAPIDS — More than 200 people turned out Monday at a Cedar Rapids school board meeting — and many spoke against a plan to close up to six elementary schools — but district leaders say school closures are necessary for long-term sustainability while acknowledging the decisions will be “extraordinarily hard.”

Two dozen parents, educators and even Wright Elementary School second-grader Amara Stevenson spoke advocating for their schools to remain open. Many speakers also opposed the district’s recommendation to create intermediate schools that house fifth- and sixth-graders.

“What is happening right now feels less like thoughtful leadership and more like a scramble, and our children and staff are the ones being asked to absorb the impact,” said Jill Ozarowicz, a teacher at Wright Elementary.

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“What we are calling realignment is in reality displacement. It is young children losing familiar buildings, trusted adults and a sense of safety. It is staff being thrown into uncertainty, and it is communities being told that they are expendable,” Ozarowicz said during public comment.

Failure to plan led to hard decisions, school board president says

The Cedar Rapids school board is considering $19.6 million in recommended cuts — including closing schools — for long-term sustainability as the district grapples with declining enrollment.

“There ultimately will be hard decisions that need to be made, but we’ve run out of time to kick this can down the road any further,” school board President Jen Neumann said. “Failure to put a plan in place will jeopardize student outcomes. I’ve been on this board for six years. Enrollment started declining in 2018, and year after year, we’d hoped and were even advised it would level off and then tick up at some point.”

How To Get Involved

The Cedar Rapids school board plans to continue to talk about possible school closures and other budget reduction recommendations at its next meeting Monday, Jan. 19, at the Educational Leadership and Support Center, 2500 Edgewood Rd. NW, Cedar Rapids.

Neumann said this was before the enactment of Education Savings Accounts — public funds for non-public schools — which have opened up the option of for some families to send their children to a tuitioned school. That “pretty much obliterated” hope that the Cedar Rapids district would regain enrollment, she said.

“At the same time while the district was hoping and praying the consultants were right, we used one time funding to pay for ongoing expenses like salaries instead of making incremental cuts and systemic changes. And yes, I was on the board at that time, and I own that,” Neumann said.

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Neumann said this is a “chance to reimagine Cedar Rapids schools,” keeping student outcomes at the forefront and “building resilience and sustainability for the future.”

What is the proposed plan?

A proposal to close six elementary schools and Truman Early Learning Center would save the district up to $7 million annually when fully implemented.

Under two slightly different proposals, Wright, Cedar River Academy, Cleveland, Nixon and Pierce elementary schools are proposed to close. One of the proposals also includes closing Johnson STEAM Academy.

Under the plan, 12 to 13 elementary schools would serve preschool through fourth grade. Three middle schools would shift into intermediate schools that serve fifth- and sixth-graders. Three existing middle schools would serve seventh and eighth grade. The district’s three traditional high schools — Jefferson, Kennedy and Washington — would continue to serve ninth through 12th grades.

Implementation of the plan could begin in summer 2027 with full implementation expected to take two to three years minimum.

Lannin said several of the schools proposed to close already were a part of a 2018 facility master plan to close schools. Under that plan, Maple Grove, West Willow and Trailside have opened. Currently under construction is an addition and renovations to Harrison Elementary School and two new buildings that will replace Hoover and Van Buren elementary schools. The three schools are expected to be completed by fall 2027.

Impact to ‘most vulnerable families’

Ozarowicz said during public comment that the schools proposed to close, including Wright, serve some of the district’s most vulnerable families who have disproportionately high percentages of students living in poverty, English Language Learners and students with disabilities, according to the Iowa School Performance Profile.

“We also need to talk about who is not in this conversation. There are almost 2,000 families in the district who do not speak English, many of whom attend these schools. A significant portion of our ELL families have not been meaningfully included and do not have a voice in this process,” Ozarowicz said.

No decisions to reduce the budget have been made. The Cedar Rapids school board plans to continue to talk about possible school closures and other budget reduction recommendations at its next meeting Monday, Jan. 19, at the Educational Leadership and Support Center, 2500 Edgewood Rd. NW, Cedar Rapids.

Investing in brick and mortar or people

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While school board members voiced hesitation and even shock at the plan to close schools, school officials said it’s about offering “better opportunities and better outcomes for students.”

School board member Kaitlin Byers said when she saw the plan last Friday, “my jaw was on the floor. It’s a lot to take in.”

Superintendent Tawana Lannin — previously Grover — said it might come down to a choice between maintaining buildings as they are and investing in staff and programs.

“Schools have explained to us that losing any more staff would be hard. We’ve also heard we need to do better about fine arts. You can say maybe you don’t want us to focus on the fine arts because you’d rather have the schools,” Grover said to the board.

“The last thing any of us want to do is close our own buildings down, but we also recognize if we don’t make changes to the inventory of the buildings we have, we are spending money on things that don’t help our kids and we become less competitive with other districts, private schools and charters if we don’t fund those things,” Kennedy High School Principal Jason Kline said.

“If we look at the $19 million (in proposed reductions), one of the options is not giving teachers raises,” Kline said. “If we’re not giving raises, we’re losing teachers to other districts. From the principal perspective, we realize this is extraordinarily hard. We’re going to spend the money one way or the other — best spend it on the kids.”

“We have a choice to make,” school board member Cindy Garlock said. “We are in a budget situation that we need to address. The question is where do we put our money. Do we put it into brick and mortar or do we put it in staff? I would always hope for the staff because we know the teacher at the front of the classroom is the most important influencer of learning. It’s going to hurt to have to close some buildings, but they’re buildings. It should seem to me keeping our highly qualified staff should be at the top of our priority list.”

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School board asks to slow down

During the five-hour meeting, school board members indicated they want more time to make a decision and explore — and rule out — other options to reconfigure schools.

“We understand the decisions we’re making will disrupt the lives of kids and families, and we don’t want that. We know these decisions carry impact for years to come and require thoughtful decision making. We do not intend to rush into plans and risk a poor roll out because we know that does carry long-term consequences,” Byers said.

“We need to know all of the unintended consequences before moving forward. If teachers aren’t supportive of this plan, we will lose them. If families aren’t supportive of this plan and don’t feel like we’re listening, we will lose them,” Byers said.

School board Vice President Scott Drzycimski said until a decision is made, parents and staff are “in limbo.” “We have to make a decision sooner rather than later … I’m a supporter of waiting until fall 2027 to roll it out.”

Adam Zimmermann, chief of innovation and research for the Cedar Rapids district, said the district does need to be mindful of upcoming school registration for the 2026-27 school year.

How was the plan created?

School leaders considered attendance boundaries, socioeconomic demographics of students, equalizing enrollment, condition of buildings, building capacities and operational savings in recommending to the school board which buildings to close.

“We feel strongly the schools identified are the ones we are recommending for closure,” said Chad Schumacher, director of operations for the district.

School leaders say while an intermediate school model does create an additional transition for students — which public speakers voiced concern over — there also could be some benefits.

Reconfiguring the schools also would allow the district to create a true feeder school system, where students in elementary school attend intermediate, middle and high school with the same students. While students transition buildings, they will remain largely in their same peer groups.

Kline said “peer group stability” is an extremely important part of this plan. “The fear a lot of students talk about isn’t the new school. It’s the students they don’t know,” he said.

Intermediate schools could create an opportunity to foster more robust fine arts and athletic programs at a younger age, Kline said.

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“This allows us to implement fine arts and athletics in fifth and sixth grade, offer competitive intramurals, band, orchestra and vocal show choir, which our peer neighboring school districts are doing, and we need to catch up with them,” Kline said.

Kline said families impacted by school closures could permit into the school of their choice outside of their attendance boundary.

“We believe this is going to be a difficult transition,” Kline said.

In November 2025, a multimillion dollar Cedar Rapids school bond referendum that would address facility needs failed voter approval by less than 1 percent. It was the second bond in two years to not get voter approval.

Lannin said people have asked the district, “Why didn’t you tell us plainly if the bond failed what would happen.”

While school officials repeatedly said “tough decisions” would have to be made if the bond passed, they didn’t want to “incite fear” by saying schools would close, Lannin said.

“We recognize that maybe we did not make this clear, and I own that tonight,” Lannin said.

Community voices concerns

Speakers said moving schools would be traumatic for students. They voiced concern that students with special needs are being forgotten in the conversation about closing schools to reduce costs.

Speakers even proposed new options like creating schools for kindergarten through eighth grade or fifth through eighth grade, saying some data better supports these models.

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Parents said they doubt the feasibility of closing schools and creating a new intermediate model this quickly.

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John Swift, a parent to children at Pierce Elementary School, said the short timeline given to families to complete surveys for the district to gather feedback on the plan is not leading to “meaningful public engagement.”

“These decisions are permanent. These families are being asked to respond under extreme time pressures,” Swift said.

More than 17,000 stakeholders have been engaged in conversations to reduce the budget through surveys and meetings, including principals, teachers, community members, staff and families, school officials said.

A survey that received 950 responses from staff and families showed almost 60 percent support for the intermediate school model.

Sarah Hale Keuseman, who has children at Trailside Elementary School and Franklin Middle School, said the additional transition for students to intermediate school could negatively impact academic achievement, self-esteem, attendance and increase disciplinary infractions and suspensions.

“Leadership is not about choosing what is easiest. It is about choosing what is best for students, especially those who are most vulnerable. I ask you to be bold, to ground this decision in research and to center the needs of students and families who are least able to advocate for themselves,” Hale Keuseman said.

Dozens of other proposed budget cuts

School leaders identified an additional $9.3 million in cost savings, including reducing funding to community partners, freezing curriculum resources, eliminating software, and combining resources for the Cedar Rapids Virtual Academy, homeschool assistance program and City View Community High School.

There also will be 33 teaching positions eliminated from schools based on declining student enrollment. This will be accomplished by attrition, said Karla Hogan, the district’s chief financial officer.

Lannin acknowledge that schools “will feel the impact.” “That’s one less body in our school buildings,” she said.

School board members also asked district officials to consider — based on community feedback — if there is room at the Educational Leadership and Support Center for City View and Iowa BIG. The two programs currently lease space at the Linn County Regional Center and Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, respectively.

These cost saving recommendations are in addition to about $4.3 million in proposed budget cuts presented to the board last week.

A presentation at a school board meeting next week will explain a proposal to reduce $500,000 from the district’s central office.

Last year, the district reduced 27 full-time positions from the Educational Leadership and Support Center resulting in about $1.66 million in savings. More than half the reductions were achieved through attrition and unfilled vacancies.

There are 153 people employed at the district office, a reduction from 214 in fiscal year 2022.

The Cedar Rapids school board is expected to vote on all cost savings proposals except facilities at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19.

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