Up to 7 Cedar Rapids schools could close under proposal to reduce budget

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Cedar Rapids school board Monday indicated support to further explore a proposal that would close up to seven schools and move to an intermediate model that serves fifth- and sixth-graders.

Which schools might close is expected to be presented to the school board next week.

In a three and a half hour work session Monday, board members reviewed almost a dozen other proposed budget cuts estimated to be worth about $4.3 million. Closing and reconfiguring schools could result in about $6 million in savings when fully implemented, which would contribute significantly to balancing the district’s budget.

Declining enrollment and rising operational costs have made changes necessary to ensure the district’s long-term financial stability. The total estimated proposed cost reductions are $10.3 million.

School leaders are considering 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.

The school board is expected to vote on a final proposal to consolidate schools Jan. 26. The school board did not take a vote or hear public comment Monday because it was a work session.

The next school board meeting will be 5:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 12, at the Educational Leadership and Support Center, 2500 Edgewood Rd. NW, Cedar Rapids. The meeting is open to the public.

What would an intermediate model look like?

Under the proposal to close buildings and move to an intermediate model:

The move is expected to be phased in over multiple years if approved by the school board.

Attendance boundaries likely will be reconfigured to create a true feeder pattern where students from the same elementary school continue through the system up through 12th grade.

One of the buildings that would close under the proposal is Truman Early Learning Center in northwest Cedar Rapids, which opened in 2022 as a tuition-free full-day preschool. Instead, half-day and full-day preschool options would be offered in each elementary school, which would reduce some students’ transition to kindergarten.

  Buy Photo

No other schools have been identified for consolidation and no final decisions have been made. Families have been invited to share feedback through a district survey that closes at the end of the day Wednesday.

Superintendent Tawana Lannin — previously Grover — said the district is proposing budget reductions “above the deficit amount, so we can give money back.”

“We need to be able to staff our buildings accordingly,” Lannin said. “Extracurriculars are important, addressing behavior is important. For us, this is bigger than just reductions.”

In February, school leaders will begin working to create a seven year strategic plan with community input, Lannin said.

  Buy Photo

Principals excited about intermediate school proposal

The idea to move to an intermediate school model came up organically in a meeting with building principals as district officials sought guidance on how to trim the budget.

Stephanie Van Hemert, principal at Grant Elementary School, said she could “sense the buzz” that was happening as school leaders initially talked about the possibility of bringing the intermediate model to the district.

  Buy Photo

There was an “excitement in the room you could feel,” Van Hemert said.

Although Van Hemert said moving educators to different schools will be “uncomfortable,” building principals agree an intermediate school has the opportunity to retain and attract staff interested in teaching those grade levels.

“The earlier decisions can be made, the more we can use some of the professional learning days we have left in the year to plan for some of this,” Van Hemert said.

Jessica Johnson, principal of Harding Middle School, said she sees “great benefit” in grouping fifth- and sixth-graders and seventh- and eighth-graders into different schools.

“Middle school kids are awesome. It’s the best place to be, but sixth and eighth grade are very different,” Johnson said. “This model allows us to focus on what kids developmentally need at each grade and have the staffing to really support those needs.”

“We know we have to make hard decisions. This is going to hurt, but this provides us an opportunity to get excited about it,” she said.

Consolidating schools and reconfiguring grade levels could have some benefits to staff and students. For example, there could be full-time specials teachers who teach art, music, PE and library in all buildings.

Another benefit could be stronger extra- and cocurricular activities in middle and intermediate schools because of higher staffing levels and more students, and more consistent programming and class sizes across the district.

Van Hemert said it could “stabilize” staffing levels across the district, creating a “more predictable environment for our teachers, our paras and our students.”

If the schools are reconfigured into elementary, intermediate and middle schools, the buildings’ capacities would be 400 students for preschool-fourth grade buildings, 800 students for fifth and sixth grade buildings, and 800 students for seventh and eighth grade buildings.

Van Hemert said during a previous school year, she had to tell a new teacher they were moving to another building because enrollment at Grant Elementary dropped over the summer.

“That doesn’t create, ‘I can be invested in this community and show up to teach,’” Van Hemert said. “You can withstand some of that movement a little better as a bigger school.”

Van Hemert said larger schools, however, need a staffing model that better meets the diverse needs of students.

“If the exact same staffing model were to happen and Cedar River Academy and Grant combines (for example), that would be really hard,” Van Hemert said.

Joslin Hanna, principal of McKinley STEAM Academy, a sixth through eighth grade middle school in Cedar Rapids, said they try to come up with a plan every year to ease the transition of sixth-graders to middle school.

  Buy Photo

“Sixth-graders struggle the most in our building,” Hanna said.

An intermediate model could be a more age appropriate environment for fifth- and sixth-graders that prepares them for middle school by easing them into daily classroom transitions, Hanna said. Instead of transitioning seven times a day for each class period, students in intermediate school might transition for three class periods, being taught social studies and reading by the same teacher, for example.

Plan has ‘potential,’ but school board cautions against quick change

School board members voiced concerns about a quick timeline to close schools and create an intermediate model — even over multiple years.

School board vice president Scott Drzycimski said the intermediate model has “potential,” but communicating with families is going to be “key” to any changes.

“I’m interested in what creates stability in the district,” Drzycimski said.

School board member Kaitlin Byers said the district needs to have “clear, quick communication” with families about what schools might close or change grade levels.

“I’m not dismissing this might be a good model … it feels like there’s a lot to be done, and I want to make sure we’re being thoughtful about this. If it’s not an effective model, it was all for naught,” Byers said.

“We’re tending to like this intermediate model and the opportunities it opens for our students,” school board member Cindy Garlock said.

“What I hear is for a fifth-grader, an intermediate school looks less like an elementary school, and for a sixth-grader, it looks less like a middle school. It’s the best of both worlds for that age group, and that’s something I think I’m excited about,” school board member David Tominsky said.

Reducing buildings has long been a goal

Reducing the number of schools in the district’s inventory and creating larger schools that serve more students has been a goal of school officials for almost a decade.

Sixteen of 29 schools in the district are currently at less than 80 percent capacity. Three schools — Nixon and Cleveland elementary and McKinley STEAM Academy — are between 50-60 percent capacity, and two schools — Franklin and Roosevelt Creative Corridor Business Academy, both middle schools — are below 50 percent capacity.

The Cedar Rapids school district has lost more than 2,000 students since 2017, with almost 1,000 of those students leaving the district in the last two years. During that time, few budget reductions have been made, said Karla Hogan chief financial officer and deputy for the Cedar Rapids district.

The district announced in November it had experienced a decline of 624 certified students this year, resulting in a loss of about $5 million in revenue for the 2026-27 school year.

A 2018 facilities master plan for the Cedar Rapids district included building new elementary schools that serve up to 500 students and closing others. 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.

  Buy Photo

Improvements to Cedar Rapids elementary schools were funded by Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE), a statewide school infrastructure sales and services tax.

Two bond referendums that would address other facility improvements — including at middle and high schools — have failed voter approval in the last two years. Most recently, a bond referendum was narrowly voted down in November 2025.

Another $4.2 million in proposed reductions

Other cost saving recommendations include reducing millions in professional development and consulting contracts.

Reducing the amount the district is spending on Instructional Empowerment — a learning model that has been implemented over the last three years — would be $1.3 million in savings.

Nicole Brown, executive director of curriculum and instruction for the district, said the district can leverage teachers who are further along in their training in Instructional Empowerment who can continue to provide support on the model internally.

Reducing contracts with Grant Wood Area Education Agency would be a $627,000 savings. This includes part-time consultants including a librarian, school counselor, early childhood, a full-time science and career education consultant and three part-time social emotional behavioral health and behavior support consultants.

The district would maintain a school improvement consultant through the AEA, a cost of about $75,000.

To meet the social emotional behavioral health needs of the district, internal staff responsibilities would be increased. Behavior supports would be addressed through district special services directors, student services personnel and the curriculum and instruction department.

A part-time social emotional behavioral health consultant from the AEA would continue to be contracted by the district to be paid for from a therapeutic grant, not the general fund.

Cutting a contract with the AEA for mentoring and induction for new teachers would be a $420,000 savings. That mentoring and induction would then be moved internally and be delivered by dedicated Cedar Rapids schools staff.

A reduction in other consultants would be a $400,000 savings. The district has used several consultants over the years for coaching, program evaluation, staffing, communications planning and long-term district planning. Some of these consultants include Table Group, District Management Group, Steele Dynamics and Wixted and Company.

Moving forward, the district will eliminate as much consulting from the general fund as possible, and all consulting contracts will be rigorously evaluated in terms of strategic priority and internal capacity before being brought before the school board, according to board documents shared with The Gazette.

The goal is to build sustainable internal expertise and decision-making processes, so the district no longer requires external consulting firms.

Another recommendation is to reduce staffing costs at the Educational Leadership and Support Center — the district’s central office — by $500,000.

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.

Garlock said it’s important to keep “top of mind” “How does this impact student learning?”

“It’s easy to say, ‘Let’s just get rid of all consultants, but maybe there are some that are more valuable to us,” Garlock said.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com