Gazette Daily News Podcast: Thursday, March 28, 2024

– Hills Elementary to close at the end of the school year, Iowa City school board decides

– Anamosa releases sewage into Wapsipinicon after equipment failure

– AEA changes, education funding and teacher pay boosts signed into law by Iowa Gov. Reynolds

Episode Transcript

Coming up, Hills Elementary School is closing at the end of the school year

And later, the DNR is telling Iowans to stay out of the Wapsipinicon after an equipment failure released sewage into the river

Plus, AEA changes, education funding and teacher pay boosts were signed into law Wednesday

Welcome to the Thursday, March 28 edition of the Gazette Daily News Podcast. This podcast gives quick bites from the latest headlines coming out of The Gazette newsroom. I’m Bailey Cichon.

First, the Iowa City school board decided Tuesday to close Hills Elementary School at the end of the school year. The closure is part of efforts to preserve educational programs and staff in the Iowa City Community School District. The board said that while they didn’t want to close the school, it’s in the best interest of students as they need to quote unquote slash the budget.

School board member Lisa Williams said quote, “There are no other cuts to be made unless we are willing to start touching student programming–things like music, foreign language, our librarians and extracurricular activities. I consider those programs to be essential to our students’ experiences, and I will continue to pursue cuts that save us operational dollars.”

The closure will save the district about $1.66 million. That inches the district closer to trimming $7.5 million in expenses over the next two years.

Williams said over the last three years, $24.7 million has been reduced from the district’s spending plan. That was done by eliminating 11 administrator positions, offering early retirement plans to teachers and delaying the purchase of quote “much-needed curriculum”. End quote.

Williams said the budget cuts are a result of decades of quote “chronic and persistent underfunding by the state” end quote

At the meeting, about 100 community members attended and 20 people pleaded with the board to keep the school open.

Hills Elementary is one of the most diverse schools in the district and also the smallest in the district. About 36 percent of Hills students are Hispanic or Latino and over 13 percent are Black. About 70 percent of students at Hills are economically disadvantaged. Only about 45 students who attend Hills live in the town. Other students are bused to school. The school has the highest cost per-student of schools in the district.

School board President Ruthina Malone said she and the board are taking full responsibility for the decision to close Hills Elementary.

The school’s teachers and staff will have the option of being reassigned to another school in the district. Students would still have access to the services they get at Hills, including preschool.

For a closer look at the board’s decision, read the full story linked in this episode’s description.

Next, on Wednesday, an equipment failure Wednesday morning caused Anamosa to accidentally release 50,000 gallons of untreated sewage into the Wapsipinicon River. The equipment failure occurred at the city’s wastewater plant lift station and caused sewage to flow into a storm drain leading to the river. City officials said that the bypass has been corrected and cleanup is underway. For now, the Iowa DNR is warning recreation users to stay out of the river. No dead fish have been observed so far.

On Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law significant changes to the funding and operations of Iowa’s nine area education agencies as well as an increase in state school funding and a boost in teacher pay.

During a bill-signing ceremony at the Iowa Capitol, Reynolds said the new law will improve special education for students with disabilities. She said while the AEA system works well for some students, that quote “hasn’t been the experience for all students” end quote. The law achieves a goal Reynolds set during her Condition of the State address nearly three months ago. However, the bill she signed into law was a stripped-down version of her original proposal.

Democrats strongly opposed the changes to Iowa’s AEAs and argued that changes were unnecessary. Here’s what Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, a Democrat from Windsor Heights, told reporters. “When you look at the celebration (Reynolds) is having, I want you to think about the families who have so much uncertainty now as they’re wondering what will happen to the (AEA) services in their communities, what will happen to their kids who are getting AEA serves. There are so many questions.”

The new law will increase state funding for Iowa’s K-12 public schools by 2.5 percent in the next school year. It will also raise the minimum salary for a first-year public school teacher from $33,500 to $47,500 in the 2024-2025 school year. Next year, it will rise to $50,000. It also sets a minimum salary for teachers with at least 12 years of experience to $60,0000 in the upcoming school year and $62,000 the following year. The law also budgets $22 million in the upcoming school year to address other veteran teachers’ salaries. This will rise to $23 million the following year. It also budgets $14 million to boost the pay of educational support staff, like paraeducators. Plus, the law makes operational and funding changes to the area education agencies. It keeps some funding for special education and other education and media services with school districts instead of sending funding directly to the AEAS. It also moves special education oversight from the AEAs to the state education department and creates a task force to study and recommend future changes to AEAs.

As always, you can find a link to each of the stories featured in today’s episode in this episode’s description or at the gazette dot com.

Now, let’s take a look at the weather in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Today will be partly cloudy. Anticipate a high of 47 degrees and a low of 30 degrees. Tomorrow will be cloudy. Expect a high of 59 degrees and a low of 43 degrees.

Thank you for listening to the Gazette Daily News Podcast. Stay up to date with the latest news from Eastern Iowa at the gazette dot com. I’m Bailey Cichon.

Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com