The Mount Pleasant Community School District Board of Education will take a key step Monday night as it considers setting a public hearing for the district’s tax levy rate and a series of potential budget reductions for the Fiscal Year 2027 budget.
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, March 9 in the Mount Pleasant High School Media Center.
District officials say the proposed reductions come as the school system faces declining student enrollment, limited increases in state funding, and the end of federal COVID-19 relief dollars that helped support school budgets over the past several years. Those factors are expected to create growing budget gaps in the coming years if spending adjustments are not made now. School leaders are outlining a two-phase plan that could reduce spending by more than 1.7 million dollars over the next two fiscal years.
Under Phase One, the district is proposing approximately $936,000 in reductions, including about $713,000 in personnel cuts affecting both certified and non-certified staff in this coming FY2027.
Other proposed reductions include:
- Eliminating the VIBE program, which is a contract with Burlington Community School District for online education courses for families opting for an online option.
- Ending summer school at all grade levels (middle school and high school had been cut this previous year so this would cut the K-5 summer school program for this coming summer).
- Reducing a contract with Four Oaks which provides specialized, trauma-informed support for at-risk students, focusing on reducing suspensions, improving behavior, and bridging home-school gaps.
- Trimming services through the Great Prairie Area Education Agency, which provide literacy consultants and special education facilitators that help with Individualized Education Plans (IEP).
- Reductions in support staff time and overtime.
- Moving some non-instructional software costs to the district’s Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL).
- Lowering utility expenses tied to building changes.
Phase Two would focus on larger structural reductions totaling about $813,000. That includes roughly $290,000 in system-wide cuts across the district and a proposal to close Salem Elementary School, which could lead to an additional $523,000 in school-wide reductions.
If both phases are implemented, the total proposed reductions would reach about $1.74 million.
School board members are expected to vote Monday on whether to move forward with the public hearing process on the district’s tax levy and the proposed budget plan.
Residents will have an opportunity to provide input during the public hearing before any final decisions. The board will be voting on Phase One at Monday evening’s meeting.