Nearly $1.5 million in cuts are being made to the 2015 and 2016 budgets to address Columbus Community School District’s deficit spending. The cuts are part of a plan the district has submitted to Iowa’s School Budget Review Committee. Included in the plan is a savings of $440,000 by reducing the number of teaching jobs next school year, and cutting this fiscal year’s building budget by $250,000. To further reduce spending next year, the role of superintendent will be a part-time position, there will be no activities bus, and several non-teaching positions are being cut.

Although $1.42 million in cuts have been identified, the district still needs to find a way to reduce their spending by $62,000 to fix their negative spending problem. According to Superintendent Marlene Johnson, reducing expenditures in the current fiscal year’s general budget is one way they hope to do that.

Johnson explains dropping enrollment is the main reason behind their budget problems. While this is a trend among smaller school districts, Columbus has been hit with a major fluctuation in the size of their student body over the past few years. Johnson says since 2012, their enrollment has declined by over 130 students.