GHV Middle School in Ventura will close

(Above) GHV Superintendent Tyler William answers questions about the district’s pending budget cuts at a Feb. 4 community meeting. Also pictured are school board members Jack Toppin, Pam Roberts, Kim Upmeyer, Board President Steve Watson and Jay Larkin. -Photo by Rebecca Peter | The Leader.

by Rebecca Peter

The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura School Board voted Monday night to move students in grades five to eight from its middle school building in Ventura to Garner. 

The vote followed a public meeting held Feb. 4 at which Superintendent Tyler Williams told district patrons the school district is facing an estimated $850,000 in budget cuts for the 2020-21fiscal year.  Williams told a packed high school auditorium that the 2020-21 budget year will be “the year we need to dig deep” to end annual cuts of $200,000, $300,000, $400,000, etc.”

Reductions will be made in the areas of personnel, transportation, and use of facilities - including moving grades five to eight from the three-story building at Ventura, to the current Pre-K-4 elementary building at Garner.

At its Monday meeting, Williams recommended the elimination of 13 full-time certified staff positions.  However, two early retirements and six resignations were unanimously approved by the board at the meeting.  A seventh resignation is pending, meaning at least nine positions will be filled through attrition.

It appears four certified staff will still need to be 

[wlm_nonmember]To read more of this article, please login or sign up for our E-Edition[/wlm_nonmember]

[wlm_ismember]

cut following the staff changes approved Monday.

“We can’t ignore the issue that we have a declining spending authority,” Williams said.

A school district’s spending authority is the dollar difference of money spent in a year versus the maximum amount a district is allowed to spend.   Williams likened it to a rainy day fund – if you overspend your budget, the deficit is paid through spending authority

In 2014-15, Garner-Hayfield’s spending authority was $3 million. The first year of consolidation with Ventura in 2015-16, GHV had a spending authority of $2.7 million.  The district’s spending authority has dropped over the years to $424,000 for the fiscal year 2019-20 budget.

“If we ignore it, we are operating illegally. No school district is allowed to operate with negative spending authority balance,” the superintendent stated.  He warned if the problem is ignored, the district will be illegal in fiscal year 2021-22.

Enrollment Decline

In 2006-07 the Garner-Hayfield School District had 820 students and 62 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers.

GHV enrollment peaked in 2015 with 1,015 students.

GHV student enrollment for 2019-20 is 846 students –26 students more than in 2006-07.  However, with the addition of programs the number of FTE teachers has grown to 79, with an average salary/benefits package of $75,000. With 17 additional teachers, it means the district is spending about $1.275 million more in 2019-20 than in 2006-07, according to Williams.

The former Garner-Hayfield district had 48 non-certified employees (support staff) in 2006-07. In 2019-20, GHV has 73 non-certified employees. With an average salary of $15,000, the district is spending $375,000 more this year than in 2006-07.

“So what does it mean? It means what we’ve done the last five years isn’t working. Our spending authority continues a sharp, sharp decline,” Williams said.  “What we’ve done in the past is we’ve cut a couple hundred thousand dollars here, $300,000 there… what that does is, it allows us to keep operating for a year but with a declining spending authority.”

The school board has been working with a consultant from Forecast 5 Analytics.  The consultant advised if $850,00 is cut in one year, GHV’s spending authority will grow from $424,000 to nearly $1 million.

Williams said the current Pre-K – 4 elementary building can accommodate grades five to eight, making it possible to share teachers between the two buildings.

“If we can share teachers between those between those two facilities (K-8 and high school), it provides a tremendous amount of opportunity for our school to get on the right track for the spending authority,” he said.

Prior to the reorganization with Ventura, the elementary building at Garner, also included grades five to eight.

Williams emphasized, “I will not make a decision that will have a negative impact on student achievement,” which he said is on an upward climb.

He noted that the Iowa Department of Education released its annual Iowa School Performance Profiles.  The “report card” for GHV rated the overall performance of the elementary as “exceptional”; the middle school, as “commendable’ and the high school as “commendable.”

Williams noted when reducing expenditures, “you look at transportation, facilities… you look at lots of different things. But when it comes down to budget cuts, it’s about people.  People make up about 80 percent of our budget.  It’s hard.”

Williams emphasized he is not interested in selling or shutting down the building at Ventura, but rather, suggests looking for ways to “repurpose” the building.

He anticipates that junior high games could continue at Ventura, as well as scheduling some high school practices there.

“Are we closing down a building?  No.  Are we selling the building?  No.  Are we considering moving the five to eight to the current elementary at Garner? Yes,” he stated. “Why? Because we can operate under two facilities, share a tremendous amount of teachers and reduce expenditures to a point where we can fix this problem in one year.  I’m interested in repurposing how we utilize that facility. It’s a wonderful building for something to happen in the future. I just don’t know what that is.”

One example of “repurposing” is the former elementary building at Ventura. Redeemer Preschool in Ventura leases rooms in the facility from the school district.

Williams said he is working with Four Oaks Family and Children Services about locating a social, emotional, therapeutic program for children from schools across North Iowa in that facility.

The evening included time for comments and questions from the audience.

Larry Costello was a long-time member of the school board at Ventura.  He also served on the board at GHV.

“I remember when Ventura overspent our budget by $3,000,” Costello said. “The amount of paperwork we had to do was astronomical.  At this time, I want to say don’t blame this board for being where it is.  Blame those of us who were on the board in 2012.” 

Looking back, he felt that the board may have rushed too much and should have taken the time to look a little more into the future.

“Don’t rush this through,” he said. “I know you’re under a deadline. Just don’t go further than you have to.”

Pastor Justin Asche, Garner, urged the audience to allow the school board to move the GHV community forward.

“The world moves on and life moves on,” he said. “I want to be part of a progressive community that puts kids first.”

[/wlm_ismember]