Questions that deserve answers

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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At last week's Cedar Rapids school board meeting, board members listed many questions they want the district's administration to answer before they vote on closing elementary schools and redrawing attendance boundaries.

They addressed critical issues that remain unclear as the process moves toward a pair of public open houses. The first one is Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Grant Wood Area Education Agency.

Among its questions, the board wants to know how reliable the district's enrollment projections are, how class sizes would be impacted and how the district can address the charge that poor students are being targeted. Members want to know if unused space in some buildings picked for closure could somehow be used, instead, to generate revenue.

Why, the board wonders, are just four elementary schools being looked at for possible closure - Harrison, Madison, Monroe and Polk - and why aren't other schools being considered? What are the consequences of doing nothing?

Board members asked how closures would affect community partnerships, such as Kids on Course at Harrison. There were many, many questions, including the most important of all: What are the educational benefits?

Superintendent Dave Benson said his staff needs time to answer them. But time is running out. When the board next meets Feb. 13, Benson is scheduled to make his own recommendation on closures and boundaries. The board's final decision comes March 12.

Many of the questions asked by the school board are also weighing heavily on the

minds of this editorial board.

We have some additional questions we believe need to be answered.

District budget chief Steve Graham told the board that money saved through school closings, as much as $2 million depending on the scenario, would be used to build district reserves. But does a desire to deposit more money into the district's savings account justify the trauma of school closings? Are other, less-disruptive options available for stabilizing reserves?

Graham also said the district's $101 million in unspent infrastructure dollars expected from the School Infrastructure Local Option tax that's in place through 2029 won't cover

$111 million in current building needs. If that's the case, why is the district building a

$44 million administration building, including $30 million in bonds to be paid for with SILO funds?

If elementary closures have been looming for years, why didn't the district make plans to move its offices to an unused school? Now that cash is tight, would it be possible for the district to sell its new building to the private sector?

And how do closures and boundary changes address the core problems causing declining enrollment? The oft-mentioned flood is only one reason children are leaving the district.

Serious questions about this process are piling up fast. And if the district can't answer them satisfactorily, it's difficult to see how it can justify taking the drastic step of closing neighborhood schools.

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