March 29, 2024

Newton’s biggest enrollment drop is at kindergarten level

SIAC to meet Jan. 8; board to meet Jan. 12

Some of the certified enrollment numbers presented at Monday night’s Newton Community School District board meeting could have an impact on state funding for 2015-16 school year.

The district’s overall enrollment dipped overall from 2,877 students in October of 2013 to 2,813 in October of 2014. While there are noticeable dips or jumps at several different schools and grade levels, one of the most significant changes this year is the number of incoming kindergartners.

Newton superintendent Bob Callaghan presented a large amount of enrollment data at Monday’s board meeting, pointing out that there are only 226 students this year in both kindergarten and the transitional kindergarten combined, compared to 255 in October of 2013.

The formula for which the Iowa Department of Education determines funding involves a number of factors, such as English proficiency and special needs, to derive weighted enrollment numbers (Newton’s weighted enrollment went from 3,002.72 in 2013 to 2,954.07 this year).

The state then funds each district based on the a rate for each student. For fiscal year 2014, the state cost per pupil was $6,121.

A drop in weighted enrollment of 48.65, at the 2014 rate, would mean a drop in $297,786.65 in funding. The district’s overall budget for this school year is about $44.7 million.

While the certified enrollment was only an action item at Monday’s meeting for the purpose of the board approving the enrollment figures, which it did, the board also voted to request a modified allowable growth budget adjustment.

This would give Newton $138,687, if approved as is, to compensate for two English as a Second Language students who have needed extra help for more than five years.

“Some of our grades actually picked up numbers,” Callaghan said. “The best we can tell, the most influential factor is kindergarten. Our real young children (in the community) have either moved or are not school-age yet. Our preschool numbers are up; will this correlate to a larger kindergarten group next year? We’ll know more after Kindergarten Roundup (an event held in March or April each year).”

Board president Sheri Benson said a “bubble” of a small or large class is fairly common. The kindergarten classes of 2008 and 2010 were both small, Callaghan said.

“One of the suggestions for that would be to hire one extra teacher,” Callaghan said. “But that teacher would be floating every year, but it would get us to class sizes around 20. We’re open to going back and finding more options.”

Monday night’s meeting was the only regularly scheduled meeting of December for the board. Attendance was sparse at the meeting; in fact, Callaghan, the board members, Director of Business Services Gayle Isaac and administrative assistant Christine Dawson two members of the media and the five people who spoke were the only ones in the room.

The School Improvement Advisory Committee is set to meet Jan. 8, and the board’s first regular meeting of 2015 is set for Jan. 12. Items likely to be discussed in January will be the 2015-16 school calendar, possible district reconfiguration and major work to be done on the Berg complex.

The calendar discussion might be complicated for all Iowa districts. Jan. 12 is the also the first day of the 2015 Iowa state legislative session, and it isn’t clear yet how many legislators will take action against the DOE’s recent announcement about waivers to start school earlier than Sept. 1.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com.