West Fork Superintendent discusses funding for Iowa schools

West Fork Superintendent Mike Kruger offered his thoughts recently regarding action taken by the Legislature regarding funding for Iowa schools.

One of the key issues was the Senate approving a 2.1 percent increase, compared to the 2.5 percent rate recommended by the Governor and the House Republicans.

“The 2.1 percent compared to the 2.5 percent is a big deal to our district. That 0.4 percent difference is approximately $20,000. For staffing purposes that could pay half of a teacher’s salary, etc. Schools across the state have asked for 4 percent, but we know that is not going to happen unfortunately,” Kruger said.

Another key issue was the voting to increase funds by $7.65 million to address inequities in transportation costs. “The funding to address the transportation and cost per pupil inequities is also very important to our district.

Our district is 314 square miles, much larger than most districts. For that reason our transportation costs are higher than most districts meaning that we have to allocate more money from our budget for transportation costs, which means we would have less money for educational types of things,” Kruger commented.

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