Pekin reports decline in open enrollment

PACKWOOD – The Pekin Community School District will need to make some changes this coming year after declining enrollment and other factors has caused the district’s unspent balance to decline by about half a million dollars.

Pekin Superintendent Jeff Maeder broke the unfortunate news to the Pekin school board at its meeting in December. He said a big reason for the decline in the balance was that Pekin was no longer a big net recipient of students open enrolling into the district. Pekin used to boast a high level of open enrollment, but Maeder said the latest figures show that an equal number of students are open enrolling into the district as those who are open enrolling out. He said the number of students open enrolling out increased by about 30 students.

The school district receives about $7,800 per student from the state for each student enrolled, so losing 30 students means a drop in revenue of about $234,000. Maeder explained that, though a decline in enrollment was a big part of the problem, it’s not the only reason for the $500,000 decline in the unspent balance.

Pekin shares fewer positions than it used to. Maeder said Pekin has shared a human resources officer with Sigourney, plus two positions with Oskaloosa: a school board secretary and transportation director. Those sharing agreements have gone away.

“We were also still receiving federal funding from the pandemic to pay for things, and that expired this last year, too,” Maeder said. “Our financial advisors said it was a perfect financial storm. It’s not from mismanagement, it’s that these things happened all at once.”

Maeder said he’s not sure yet what steps will need to be taken to address this decline in the unspent balance, but he wants the public to know that the district wants to minimize any impact on students. He said the district will look into funds like the Teacher Leadership Fund to see how it can be used. Certain funds can only be used for certain projects, so the district will explore which funds have greater flexibility.

“A few years ago, the Legislature gave us flexibility to use that money for more than one category, so that could alleviate certain people’s salaries,” he said. “We’re looking at how we can do things internally to shift funds around.”

One of the funds the district is eying is using the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) for contracted services, such as paying a maintenance company. This would alleviate the strain on the district’s general fund.

“It’s possible we may need to look at our class sizes,” Maeder continued. “We’re pretty low in class numbers. We’re a two-section district, and have already made some adjustments by going from two sections to one in some places.”

Maeder said the district doesn’t need to find another half million dollars in the next year, and that a lot of school districts in Iowa are in much worse shape where they’re faced with having to make huge cuts. At the same time, Maeder said the district needs to start making some changes now so it can avoid those drastic changes later.

“This is not a doomsday situation at all,” he said. “We’re trying to be responsible and not have to make huge, drastic cuts. We’re trying to adjust along the way.”

Maeder said he couldn’t promise that cutting positions was off the table, but if the district did have to cut positions, it would likely be one or two positions.

Maeder also announced that he will step down as Pekin’s superintendent on June 30. The board hired him on an interim basis last year. He said he is helping the board as it searches for a new superintendent.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com