The Keokuk School District does not believe Iowa Governor Terry Branstad is committing enough money to educate local children.
The school board has gone on record that the allowable growth for the 2015-16 school year should be 4%, compared to Branstad's recommendation of 1.25%.
Superintendent Tim Hood said the governor's plan only works out to about $80/per student in additional funding.
"By the time you take off the students we lost (in enrollment), its about $100,000 of new money," said Hood.
"That's supposed to (pay for) salary increases, insurance increases and utility increases and everything else. It just doesn’t work.”
Hood says 4% allowable growth would provide about $400,000 in extra cash for Keokuk despite its declining enrollment.
The state legislature is charged with setting the "allowable growth" for each school year.
Allowable growth is used to determine how much money a district can spend per student each year. For example, if a district is spending $6,000/student and allowable growth is set at 5%, per-student spending would increase to $6,300 ($6,000 x 5%).
Hood said along with the 4% for the 2015-16 school year, the Keokuk district wants to see allowable growth set at 6% for the 2016-17 and 2017-8 school years.
"So that we can start catching up with other states," said Hood. "We are considerably lower than other people in the Midwest for (per-student) spending."
He said lawmakers should also follow the state's rules and regulations and set the rate at least a year in advance to help districts set their budgets.
