At this week’s Pella School Board work session, a presentation was given about potential budget scenarios over the next several years.

Superintendent Greg Ebeling tells KRLS News a combination of enrollment growth and early retirements helped to make the next general fund amount even with the current fiscal year. However, Ebeling says with an all-Republican legislature and the reelection of Governor Kim Reynolds, he doesn’t anticipate annual state aid increases to cover year-to-year growth of expenses, as the numbers have been around one percent under GOP-leadership.

And that means 1% of our allocation per-pupil, and so what happens with that is that over time we have increased costs that just happen because of teachers moving on the salary schedule, additional staff changes, and other utilities that happen as well,” Ebeling says. “So for us to operate on a 1% growth trend is really, really difficult because eventually you can kind of catch up and you start eating into your reserves, so what we’re trying to do is maintain reserves where they’re at and then still provide funding for all the programs that we want.”

Ebeling says one fix the board may do is increase the instructional support levy by shifting funds in the property tax in a revenue neutral move to increase spending authority. He’s hopeful they don’t have to adjust the budget for another five years with the move, as early retirement is no longer feasible.