Mount Ayr School Board Reviews Finances, Enrollment Trends, and CTE Project Progress
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District remains in strong financial standing despite declining enrollment; Career and Technical Education building on track for spring completion.
By Darrell Dodge
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — A review of the district’s financial standing and an update on the Career and Technical Education building were among items covered in the Monday, November 10 regular meeting of the Mount Ayr Community Schools board of directors.
Financial review
Superintendent Jason Shaffer shared a detailed review of the district’s financial standing as of the end of the 2024-25 school year.
Shaffer emphasized two key metrics that help determine a district’s financial position – the solvency ratio and unspent balance authority (UBA). Both metrics carry a recommended percentage between five to 15 percent, not to exceed 25 percent.
Solvency ration is how much cash a district has on hand. The Mount Ayr district’s $1.9 million is currently above the target at 20 percent, in part due to the influx of funds from the federal government during the pandemic.
The UBA is determined by how much money is left at the end of a school year after all bills, including staff wages, are paid. Mount Ayr’s $2 million in UBA sits at 18 percent, but that percentage is slowly coming down. Shaffer explained that districts aim to keep a healthy unspent balance from year-to-year to offset any future funding shortfalls, such as a large dip in enrollment.
Shaffer then turned the board’s attention to certified enrollment trends for the district. He explained that Mount Ayr’s enrollment is trending downward, including significant drops over the past two years.
“We’re in a pretty steady trend where we’re graduating large classes and we’re bringing in small ones,” he said. “And that trend is not going away anytime soon.”
Shaffer stated Mount Ayr’s enrollment has dropped approximately 80 students over the past 10 years, and he estimates enrollment could drop another 40 to 50 students over the next three years. This trend, he added, is affecting not only Mount Ayr but also most rural districts across the state.
Considering each student currently carries almost $8,000 in state per pupil aid to schools, Shaffer said the board needs to be aware the effect declining enrollment could have on district finances.
“We need to probably watch what we’re doing here for the next few years,” he said. “Just because of our enrollment … we’re losing the authority in dollars to spend, so we have to consider and continue to be conservative in the spending areas … I’d say, after last year, we’re still in a good financial position. We just have to remain on our toes as far as being aware of where we’re at.”
CTE building
Shaffer gave a short update on early progress on the construction of the Career and Technical Education building.
Shaffer said early excavations revealed the dirt at the site was mostly solid clay, so the contractors are bringing in different dirt from east of Mount Ayr for the packed dirt.
Current estimates are to have the building structure enclosed sometime in January and February with completion estimated for April or May of 2026.
Shaffer added that construction at the site may require some temporary closing of city streets adjacent to the site, but the district will make those announcements as they arise.
Personnel
The board approved the hiring of Caitlyn Larsen as an elementary special education teacher. Principal Chris Elwood explained that because pre-school enrollment was larger than anticipated, Bethany Knox will return to teach one of three pre-school sections. If enrollment had allowed, pre-school would have reduced to two sections with Knox moving into a full-time special education position.
The board also approved hiring Sarah Holmes as high school softball coach, Preston Fleharty as middle school baseball coach and Brooke Vos as middle school softball coach.
Choral music director Jacy Walker was provided a stipend for her assistance with the high school musical.
The board also approved Rhett Murphy as a volunteer basketball coach and Gary Clark as volunteer wrestling coach, pending his certification.
Other business
• Learned the middle/high school was rated as a High Performing school in the latest Iowa School Performance Profiles. Test results revealed 83.2 percent of 6-11 grade students were proficient in math, with 84 precent proficient in English/Language Arts. Mount Ayr Middle/High School was the highest performing school in the Pride of Iowa conference.
• Approved a sharing agreement with the Diagonal school district for two girls to join the Mount Ayr girls’ wrestling team.
• Voted for Connie Maxson as a Green Hills AEA director.
• Learned that attendance at the recent Parent-Teacher conferences totaled 99 percent at the elementary and 96 percent at the middle/high school.
• Learned the Junior Raiders program has 94 elementary students signed up for basketball and 56 participating in wrestling.
• Learned that Alissa Swarts will deliver programs at both the elementary and middle schools. Fourth-graders will learn about the physical, social and emotional changes associated with puberty. Fifth-graders will cover human reproduction, with classes separated by gender. Sixth-graders at the middle school will learn about peer pressure and “drawing the line” to say no.
• Learned author Terri Stephens-Higgins will read her book “Bella Bean on Blueberry Lane” to second-graders on November 21. Following the reading, each second grader will be gifted a copy of the book.
