Superintendent's Message for February 2023

February has arrived and the temperature definitely feels more like winter in Iowa!  The month of February always brings the excitement of post-season play for our extracurricular teams.  This is a great time to support our student athletes participating in basketball, wrestling, bowling, cheerleading, and dance.  We also encourage you to attend Parent Teacher Conferences on February 22 and 23.  

In January, the Iowa Legislature significantly passed how Iowa Public Schools will be funded in the future.  The bill will divert over one billion dollars to the private sector in the first four years of the plan.  In comparison, public education will get around 75 million this year in state funding.  I do not anticipate our schools to lose students to private schools, but in the end, the fear will be where the funding for public schools will come from in the government budget.  Parents have choices: open enrollment, home school, and online schools.  We will continue to offer the best education and strive to be better!

This month we will also be hosting our second and last bond referendum forum on February 28, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. in the elementary gym.  We will provide tours from 5:10-6:10 p.m.  We had great questions at our last meeting.   One common question was, when will we reorganize the schools?  The boards of Villisca and Corning will discuss this at our next joint meeting.  I will lead a discussion at this time regarding the extension of Operational Sharing funding.  This means, financially, we would be giving up a lot if we reorganize.  Operational Sharing provides a revenue stream to both districts of nearly $150,000.  We would need to find other districts that would be interested in sharing the Superintendent, Transportation Director, Maintenance Director, counselor, and HR director.  Even if we did, we would only receive $150,000 for our new reorganized school district.  The time may come when our hand will be forced to consider one 7-12 grade building, but it will be because we cannot staff our buildings.  The number of new college graduates with a bachelor’s degree in education have decreased over the last few decades.   I still am confident both communities will maintain their elementary schools.

On March 7, our community will vote on a proposed bond issue and if approved, the district will embark on a series of key facility projects that will provide our students with facility upgrades that will benefit students across all grade levels.  With the tax implications so low to nonexistent, it is the perfect time to invest in our students at Corning Elementary.

  The school year is going well and I am excited when I walk into each building and see students engaged with teachers and learning taking place.  It is a great day to be a T-wolf!