AEA keeps a worried eye on the future

Stimulus will help in short term, but reductions will eventually cause pain

By MARK NEWMAN, Courier staff writer

OTTUMWA — Federal aid may have been a big help to its budget this year, but an area regional education organization is worried about the future.

“In a couple of years, we’ve got a funding ‘cliff’ when that money runs out,” said Dennis Gourley, business manager at the Great Plains Area Education Agency.

AEAs across Iowa provide services for area schools the districts cannot afford on their own. In that sense, the AEA serves as a type of co-op.

“We feel it’s a collegial relationship, but we’re also a consumer,” said Jon Sheldahl, superintendent of Ottumwa schools. “They’re mission is to serve students and school districts.”

As required, Gourley just published the agency’s proposed budget. They’ve currently been “promised” about $32 million, but he knows it’s going to get smaller. Every year, the Legislature will knock about 1.5 percent out of the amount they provide, though they wait until the end of the legislative session to do it. That’ll be on top of the 10 percent across-the-board cuts recently ordered by the state.

“We have lost another $900,000 [from the 10 percent cut]. We are in the process of reducing our expenses and using some of the stimulus money to offset [that reduction],” Gourley said.

Administrators are trying to reduce expenses where they can. Instead of replacing computers on a three-year cycle, they may go to a four-year cycle. But because this economic downturn doesn’t seem to be coming to an end, Gourley said it wouldn’t be possible to just stop buying anything while still providing services.

Sheldahl said AEAs help level the playing field by ensuring students in districts large or small can get services.

For example, very few districts could ever acquire the extensive educational library Great Prairie has. Those materials are regularly brought to the local districts.

Also, while a district may only have one or two students who are visually impaired or have autism, they may still want to make a trained teacher available to them. AEAs make that possible by having such educators on staff. The district doesn’t have to hire a full-time instructor.

“One of the biggest services they provide is in the area of special education,” said Sheldahl. “There’s a lot of specialized types of special education teachers; we don’t have to go ahead and hire those specialized teachers. They hire good people, have a good mission and stay true to that mission.”

But that means these teachers and trainers cover an area of more than 6,000 square miles. Staff also go to training, then travels to pass on new knowledge to teachers. Mileage can get costly. Great Prairie’s budget shows a need for about $500,000 in employee travel. Debt services — comparable to their 15-year mortgage — is another $400,000.

There will be a $1 million hole in the budget when that stimulus money ends next year.

“We’ve been working on that for months, figuring out what we’re going to do. It’s not going to be painless; it’s too big of a cut,” Gourley said.

Gourley said 70 percent of the budget is spent on salaries. Reductions could eventually impact staff.

“We’ve had a big boost in federal monies because of the stimulus. Those monies cover the period between February 2009 and September 2011. That keeps us from having to lay off a bunch of people,” he said. “We used a lot of the money to save positions.”

The AEA could operate with fewer people, but many of the services are one-on-one with children.

“If we lose staff — a speech pathologist, a social worker, an occupational therapist — they can’t sit and work with the kids. If we don’t have the staff, we have to reduce services,” Gourley said.

It might still come to that. AEAs do not have the option of raising a levy. They are not a taxing entity.

“School districts are allowed to ‘tax back’ to the property taxpayers the amount they lost in state aid,” Gourley said.

To save money, the local AEA has been leaving some positions unfilled when they are vacated. But at some point, there may have to be a staff reduction, Gourley said.

“This year, our biggest contract is up for negotiations.”

All options have to at least be considered, he said. Furloughs are a possible suggestion, as are wage freezes, early retirement or layoffs.

Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mnewman@ottumwa

Text Only