Discussion about how to address the 2020 fiscal year budget for the Pella Community School District will begin this fall.
Superintendent Greg Ebeling tells KNIA/KRLS News the school board heard a presentation about budget projections at their meeting this week, with the aim of giving resources to board members when they start to talk about ways to eliminate a shortfall created by low state aid increases.
Ebeling says the two options presented to the board showed the district’s spending authority if they keep operations as is, and if they were to implement an early retirement incentive similar to what was provided three years ago.
“What it either means is that you offer early retirement and replace more expensive teachers with less expensive teachers, or you have less teachers in general, and that means programs change, and those are hard choices,” Ebeling says.
The Pella School Board will receive further information about the upcoming budget process at their meetings in August.