It was pretty much guaranteed to happen as soon as it was announced: The Iowa City school district is shutting down Hills Elementary. Stories: Gazette, Daily Iowan, KCRG (autoplay), KWWL (video only),
Iowa Starting Line has a copy of the packet from the March 5 school board meeting, which directly and explicitly blames private school vouchers and insufficient state aid for the need to fill a multimillion-dollar budget deficit. The district has needed to cut $24.7 million over two school years, and Hills accounts for $1.66 million of the remaining $3.75 million needed.
On March 1, I mentioned that the Hills school was built the year before the town was attached to the Iowa City district. KCRG has a story saying that the town sold the building to the city for $1 then, and would buy it back for the same price, adjusted for inflation.
Enrollment in the Iowa City district dropped in 2020-21, but there was a notable drop in the overall statewide total then, and it’s pretty much back to where it was. If Iowa City and Linn-Mar, two growing and property-tax-rich school districts, are having to make cuts, what does that say about the rest of the state?