Iowa City property owners could see school tax decrease

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City Community School District will continue to be “vigilant” in its spending, even as the Iowa Legislature provides inadequate state funding, said Superintendent Matt Degner.

“We don’t want to be gloom and doom, but remind us we must continue to be vigilant in our practices going forward given the outlook the state has provided,” added Iowa City schools chief financial officer Les Finger, during a school board meeting last month.

State Supplemental Aid — the amount of per-pupil funding a school district receives — was approved at 2.5 percent this year, which school leaders say does not keep up with the cost of running a school district, especially as enrollment continues to decline.

“Only once in the last 10 years have we received anything above 3 percent,” said Degner about the district’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2023, which begins July 1, and ends June 30, 2023. “ … We have to be cautious over the next few years, so we don’t end up in a significant budget cut scenario.”

Iowa City schools budget proposed expenditures total $277 million for fiscal year 2023, a 2 percent increase from the $270.5 million in expenditures in the last fiscal year.

A public hearing on the proposed budget will be held Tuesday, April 12, at 6 p.m. at the Educational Services Center, 1725 N. Dodge St., Iowa City.

Student enrollment in Iowa City schools decreased by 288 students during the 2020-21 school year, bouncing back 111 students this year. There are 14,395 students enrolled in the district.

Land owners in the district will pay a school tax rate of $14.93 per $1,000 of taxable property value — an 8-cent increase from the previous year, Finger said.

Under the state's rollback formula, most property owner’s school tax levy will decrease slightly — around a $44 reduction for the year, Finger said.

Expenditures

Expenditures for capital projects will decrease by almost half — from $41 million in fiscal year 2022, to $23 million this upcoming fiscal year. Finger attributes this to the district’s first facilities master plan wrapping up.

Work has yet to get started on the second facilities master plan, which promises to continue updating schools with secure entrances, classroom additions, new gyms, cafeterias, kitchens and band rooms and another new elementary school in North Liberty.

Finger expects a budget amendment to account for any projects launched over the next year as a part of the second facilities master plan, he said.

The first facilities master plan included upgrades or additions at 12 schools, including an athletic complex, and construction of a new elementary school.

A timeline of the second facilities master plan is expected to be presented at a school board meeting Tuesday.

Another large expense this year is technology — $5.6 million — which includes internet hot spots in students’ homes, refreshing Chromebooks laptops and adding programs that allow students to access classroom information more easily, Finger said.

Iowa City schools received $41 million to be spent between March 2020 and June 2023 from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund — aid passed by Congress in a COVID-19 relief package.

This fund will continue to pay support staff brought in to help alleviate learning loss, including teaching positions like “strategists,” who support students in math, literature and social-emotional learning, and provide peer-support for teachers.

While the positions will be phased out once funding from the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Fund is gone, Finger said there are no planned layoffs. These teachers will be transitioned into the regular school workforce, taking over roles others vacated by resigning or retiring, he said.

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