T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Director of Business Services Randy Denham tells the Marshalltown Community School District Board of Education President Sean Heitmann what the cost of Central Rivers AEA media services will be next year. During the regular Monday meeting, there was a lengthy discussion regarding a resolution committing funds for the AEA in the 2024-25 school year.

After a lengthy discussion, the Marshalltown Community School Board approved a resolution allocating funds to the Central Rivers Area Education Agency (AEA) during the regular Monday meeting.

Superintendent Theron Schutte said the AEA reached out to partnering school districts for media and education services funding intention commitments for the 2024-25 school year. A template sent by Central Rivers was used to identify the Marshalltown Community School District’s (MCSD’s) intention. Schutte said they figured out which of the services was the most important to the district.

“We still need to work through that,” he said. “The main thing is that they had hoped or wanted or pleaded with districts if they would or could to approve these resolutions by May 15 so they could know they could count or not count on them. Particularly, they are wanting to know about the 60 percent funding that will flow to us instead of straight to them.”

The resolution states the district will “tentatively” allocate zero percent of the 60 percent of the media services funding to Central Rivers. Also, 100 percent of the 60 percent of the educational services funding will be sent to Central Rivers. Schutte broke the resolution down by telling the board the district feels confident the educational services portion should go to the AEA. However, at this time, the district is not comfortable with the media services portion going to the AEA.

Director of Business Operations Randy Denham told the board the media services cost of the 60 percent would be $240,659. Schutte said the total amount of the 60 percent is close to $800,000.

Schutte told the board members 100 percent of the funding used to flow to the AEA. Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa legislature approved funding changes this year, despite much opposition from the public.

“This next year, 60 percent will come to the district and 40 percent will go to the AEA,” he said. “The AEAs are currently working on developing a fee-for-pay model for all of the services, even though technically that doesn’t come into play for another year.”

The district will need to know what that fee will cover in order to make an educated decision on how to spend the 60 percent, Schutte said.

“We’re working with the AEA so we know a little bit more about what [our] usage has been of the different things that are offered, and what is the cost associated with that usage before I feel comfortable making a commitment of the initial funds,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t appreciate what they have done for us in that arena. We just don’t know for sure what we have received from AEA services and the costs associated . . . They are fully aware of our position on this.”

Board member Zach Wahl asked if Central Rivers would have the necessary staff to justify the 100 percent educational services.

“[Can they] handle what we’re going to give them?” he asked.

Schutte said he did not know the answer to that, especially since a lot can occur between May and August.

“All I can say is — special services are an absolute must,” he said. “That’s not part of this equation right now. Ed services are the next (most) important.”

Wahl asked if the Central Rivers staff had changed since the state passed the new funding. Director of Special Services Matt Cretsinger said he spoke with Central Rivers and learned they have lost more than 50 staff members, and the number continues to increase.

Director of Instruction Shauna Smith said she has placed a lot of pressure on Schutte to continue the partnership with the AEA.

“I feel they have been thrown into a really difficult situation, and they’ve been long-time partners with us and they’ve supported all of our work and impacted student achievement in Marshalltown,” she said. “It’s hard when you see a number for next year, but I also know there is a lot of service that has gone into that number. If they can figure it out and find a balance, how they can meet our needs, then it’s worth that 60 percent. If we need to make changes next year, we’ll discuss that.”

Schutte said the matter is extraordinarily troubling for the smaller schools as legislators, Reynolds and his colleagues do not seem to understand the situation this creates for those districts.

“Quite honestly, I am surprised there was not more effort by the rural legislators and superintendents to help people understand what this means for them,” he said. “They just saw the dollars associated and they could use those dollars better or more wisely.”

In other business, the board members:

• Adopted a new math curriculum for every grade level.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com