Superintendent reports staffing gains, budget moves, enrollment study and community perception survey plans

Superintendent (Clint) delivered the district’s year-end update at the June 9 Board of Education meeting, reporting preliminary state aid and levy figures, staffing changes, an enrollment study, community-perception work and a transition of the district’s mobile food pantry.

Clint said the preliminary state aid and levy report led to a minor reduction in the district’s budget guarantee figure; a $5-per-pupil equity increase lowered the district’s calculated rate from $13.92 to $13.90 (as presented). The superintendent said the district had set a budget target to reduce roughly $1.5 million for FY26 and has met that target largely through attrition and other adjustments.

Staffing: Clint said the district hired 23 new staff members for next year (the presentation listed about 16 beginning educators, five career teachers, an ROTC instructor and a nurse) and that about five positions remain open. He said the staffing reductions and hires reflect efforts to “right-size” as enrollment declines continue.

Enrollment and study: The superintendent said the district will commission another enrollment study this year, noting kindergarten cohorts have declined—attributing part of the drop to a lower birth rate around 2020 (Clint said the district saw roughly 100 fewer births in that cohort). The study will examine whether the trend stabilizes or bounces back.

Collaborate Muscatine and perception survey: The superintendent described Collaborate Muscatine, a community partnership that includes city and county leaders, and said the group is considering a telephone-based perception survey conducted by a vendor (identified in the meeting as the Morris Leatherman company and Peter Leatherman). He said the firm uses phone callbacks and targeted sampling to raise response rates and gather qualitative trends; the district will share proposed survey questions with the board before launching.

Policies and administrative systems: District staff are moving to an agenda and policy-service platform (referred to in the meeting as Assembly) that will align district policies with IASB templates; the effort has identified missing policies and minor wording differences that staff will reconcile.

Facilities and grants: Clint announced that the district received a $200,000 grant from the United States Tennis Association toward tennis-court replacement; combined with other regional and state funds, he said the tennis project has approximately $221,000 identified to offset costs. He also summarized ongoing work on insurance and the district’s effort to join a storm-risk pool (discussed elsewhere on the agenda) to reduce deductible exposure for large building claims.

Food pantry transition: The superintendent reported that the district’s mobile food pantry—which had been district-run and has evening hours useful to working families—served 426 families at the prior session. Because demand and logistics have grown, the United Church of Christ in Muscatine has agreed to take over the mobile pantry location in August; July will be a scheduled pause. District staff said the church will handle broader community operations while the district will continue food supports tied to students in school buildings.

Ending: The superintendent thanked departing staff members and noted summer programs (credit recovery at Susan Clark and Spark) and upcoming joint community meetings where district leaders will report progress.