The Cedar Rapids school board voted to make drastic cuts to next year’s budget, totaling roughly $12.9 million.
Many of the reductions aim to shift consultant work in-house and use existing resources more efficiently. It comes as the Cedar Rapids Community School District faces declining enrollment due to growing interest in education savings accounts that can be used at private schools. The district is currently running a $4 million deficit, which it anticipates will balloon to $12 million in fiscal year 2027.
The line item with the largest savings attached — at $3,569,154 — is a one-year salary freeze for administrators. The board will determine an appropriate salary increase for other school staff in an upcoming exempt session.
The school board also decided to reduce 33.3 full-time positions through attrition to align class sizes and staffing with declining enrollment, resulting in an estimated $2.8 million in savings.
"The district has run a deficit for a few years because we aren’t adjusting our staffing,” said Karla Hogan, district deputy and chief financial officer. “We are continuing to have more staff in the buildings than we have students to support. So I would encourage the board to continue to look at our staffing model going forward so that we continue to right-size our buildings every year [and] don’t get into a situation where we have to make such large reductions.”
The board also decided to cut eight positions from its Educational Leadership and Support Center (ELSC), including one member of the district’s executive cabinet. Those cuts round out to $988,654.
“We’re trying to adjust the budget — in the language that we use in our department — we are getting leaner and meaner, meaning that even though we may be reducing, what we try to discuss is 'how can we be more effective?” said Superintendent Tawana Lannin.
City View Community High School, Iowa BIG and the district’s virtual and homeschool learning programs will be consolidated under the City View title and brought into the ELSC building, saving a minimum of $215,000.
Other cost-saving measures approved by the board include:
- $2,200,000 for consulting services
- $1,075,800 in curriculum purchases
- $485,000 for mentoring and induction programming
- $487,000 in Grant Wood AEA contracts providing professional development to early-career educators
- $300,000 on software
- $250,000 on travel purchases
- $75,000 on food purchases
- $208,834 in support for administrative choice in staffing based on student needs within specific buildings
- $103,815 on building operating budgets
- $116,000 on the district’s current wellness program — less than 18% of staff currently participates
The district aims to reallocate $500,000 to support its large elementaries and fine arts programming.
“I think Cedar Rapids can send a strong message that, yeah, we’re going through times, [but] our fine arts and our activities programs are going to be what attract and keep people in this district,” said Kennedy High School Choir Director Storm Ziegler.
The school board decided not to move forward with cuts to behavioral and mental health support services.
It also delayed consideration of a proposed plan to consolidate many of the district’s schools, a process that could result in over $6 million in savings.
Lannin proposed that the board make a final decision on consolidations in April and suggested changes take effect in the fall of 2027, rather than this fall. She said the pause would allow the district to understand the daily impact on students better.
