The Columbus Community School District Board of Education has approved a reduction package to address a budget shortfall. Superintendent Marlene Johnson says the current budget they’re working with will have a budget shortfall of about $450,000. The package reduces staff at the district’s schools and also lowers the number of PE classes required for graduation, for the 2013-14 school year. Johnson attributes the shortfall to the around 200 students they’ve lost in the past three years.
She adds it isn’t due to open enrollment, but instead caused by people moving to different parts of Iowa, out of state or back to Mexico.