Cedar Rapids School Board approves initial budget cuts; delays school closure decision timeline

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Administrator salary freezes and consolidating four innovative school programs and moving them to the Cedar Rapids School District headquarters are among the budget cuts approved by the Cedar Rapids Community School District Board of Education.

The board met in a special session Monday, Jan. 19, in which public comment was not allowed, but the meeting still ran more than four hours.

Read more: Dozens speak out against school closures in marathon session

Initially scheduled to vote later this month on school closures, the School Board now plans to approve a proposal on Feb. 9, with a final decision in April. Proposed closures of up to seven schools would not go into effect until fall 2027.

Among the cuts in the strategic budget realignment, eliminating eight leadership positions at the ELSC is projected to save nearly $1 million, including reducing the chief of human resources post, currently held by Darius Ballard, with a savings of $238,522.

School Board member Kaitlin Byers pushed back on those leadership cuts, but eventually, the entire board voted unanimously for the budget realignment as presented.

In all, the cost-savings total more than $12.8 million.

While most of the meeting centered around budget cuts, the board voted to reallocate $500,000 to the district’s largest elementary schools: Trailside, West Willow, Maple Grove and Viola Gibson and to fine arts programs.

Three of the largest elementary schools are new, with promised cost-savings of reduced administration and staff when the board approved closing smaller neighborhood schools. Principals of two of those schools told the board of their need for more positions to handle the larger number of students, though the exact staff positions were not specified.

Related: New elementary schools now top $42 million

School principals and District Superintendent Tawana Lannin — known as Tawana Grover before her marriage last year — are among administrators who will see a freeze in their salaries. Lannin’s total compensation is just over $405,000 annually.

Curriculum purchases will be reduced by more than $1 million for the next fiscal year; consulting services reduced by $2.2 million and Grant Wood AEA contracts by $487,000.

The Iowa BIG program, virtual learning, and the homeschool program would be combined under the umbrella of City View Community High School and move to the Educational Leadership and Support Center (ELSC), 2500 Edgewood Rd. NW, where the school district is headquartered.

That change is expected to save at least $215,000.

City View — a project-based, internship-driven magnet program — has an enrollment of just 56 students in its third year, down from 100 last year.

The School Board approved an agreement in 2023 with the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance to upgrade and lease space in the Alliance’s downtown building to house City View, but the program has since relocated to Kirkwood Community College’s Linn County Regional Center in Hiawatha.

A majority of City View’s operations is paid for through a grant and high school students earn college credits through the program.

At the time of the decision to locate in the Economic Alliance building, Doug Neumann was executive director of the Alliance. His wife, then-School Board member Jennifer Neumann, is now the School Board president. She abstained from voting on the Economic Alliance agreement.

The preliminary agreement the School Board voted for was projected to cost more than $1 million to upgrade and rent the building, at a rate of $8,333.33 per month in base rent alone — about $100,000 per year — which was to automatically renew annually through June 30, 2028, for the portion of the building subleased at 501 First St. SE. Additionally, the district was expected to pay half of the Economic Alliance’s operating expenses.

More: School Board agrees to upgrade building not owned by the district

See slides from the School Board’s meeting, below: