Council Bluffs school board approves construction and contracts, seeks state relief for special-education deficit

The Council Bluffs Community School District Board of Education on an evening meeting approved a package of construction and contracting decisions, authorized spending requests tied to special education and the district budget, and moved into closed session to discuss a real estate matter.

Board members voted unanimously to: appoint Boyd Jones as construction manager for the planned STEM Innovation High School; approve Meyer Building Solutions LLC as project manager for the same project; award a $770,000 mechanical contract to Ford Mechanical LLC for Thomas Jefferson High School and Rue Elementary HVAC work; request state School Budget Review Committee (SBRC) spending authority for a $3,944,493.09 special-education deficit for the 2024–25 school year; and approve the district’s 1% budget guarantee under section 257.14, Code of Iowa. The board also approved the purchase of Adaptability Learning as a secondary special-education assessment tool, approved routine standing committees and consent items, and authorized board members’ attendance at the Iowa Association of School Boards convention.

Why it matters: The construction and project-management approvals move the district closer to building the STEM Innovation High School, while the SBRC request and budget-guarantee action address the district’s multi-million-dollar special-education deficit and protect next year’s regular program budget against declining enrollment.…