Another round of significant budget cuts are to be made soon by the Pella School Board, and at Monday’s meeting, a discussion was held about recommendations set by Superintendent Greg Ebeling. A public hearing was also set for January 13th for comments related to the potential reductions.

Based on a document shared in the agenda, Ebeling recommends $888,949 in reductions. Ebeling says there would be approximately 14 full-time and three summer part-time roles reduced by the end of the process, but only a small percentage of those would result in job loss, assuming current employees would be willing to transfer or take early retirement benefits.

“The majority of these will all be able to be done with our retirements. We don’t have an exact retirement every area, but because of the way you can move stuff around,that’s what would happen with this and I’m thinking that in terms of people actually losing their jobs, you’re probably talking maybe one or two people that it would actually not be employed here that are not choosing retirement next year.”

Budget projections by the district show if no additional cuts are made and student enrollment stays on its current track, the district will be running in the red in funds available by fiscal year 2028 and budget authority the following year.

This comes after the Pella School Board made $825,573 in cuts during the last fiscal year, meaning the total number of reductions will likely land at $1.7 million.

Also at this week’s Pella School Board meeting, the agenda included resolutions that were approved for the following: a new Pella Community School Foundation non-profit fundraising organization, a tax increment financing extension for the Prairie Ridge development, a letter of support for the Pella Indoor Recreation Center, a list of summer projects, including a $1.4 million expansion of the Pella Middle School parking lot, a certificate of completion for the Early Childhood Center with Graphite Construction, and a request to attend the Griak event for Pella Cross Country.