Area superintendents weigh in on school funding bill

School districts in Iowa are set to receive a 1.1 percent increase in state supplemental aid for the 2017-2018 school year – which is less than the 2 percent increase school administrators were asking for, and considerably less than the 4 percent increase that the Iowa Association of School Boards had originally requested.
           
The current SSA formula essentially amounts to $73 in new money per pupil, which is 1.1 percent of the $6,591 that the state spends annually to educate a student. The money is put into the general fund, most of which funds staff salaries and benefits but can also go to miscellaneous expenses like supplies, curriculum and utilities.
           
Though the marginal increase fell short of many school administrators’ hopes, most districts in the area agreed that they make do with what they get.
           
“We knew we weren’t going to get four percent,” Grundy Center Superintendent Jerry Schutz said. “And like we do every year, we just have to work with whatever we get.”
 
Read the full story in this week's Grundy Register.