Due to budgetary issues, the Pella School District opened an early retirement policy for the third time since 2015, and that process closed at the first meeting in January.

Superintendent Greg Ebeling says dozens of years of institutional knowledge is leaving the district after this academic year concludes, which will hurt many of the buildings and classrooms in the coming years, even with talented new staff coming in. One of the hardest hit buildings will be Pella Middle School, who will have a combined total of 202 years of Pella Middle School specific experience.

But Ebeling says by employing a mechanism that pays for benefits after retirement from the administrative fund, they will save an estimated $580,000 in the general fund for ten years, which will help with an anticipated deficit of nearly $900,000 in the coming budget year and beyond.