On April 29th the MPCSD held a special meeting at the Mt. Pleasant High School media center to discuss the fiscal year of 2027 for grounds and buildings projects and proposed phase 2 General Fund budget reduction, the proposal of possibly closure of the Salem elementary school. The fiscal years plan and equipment spending plan and the districts office plan update.
In front of roughly three dozen concerned citizens of the Mt. Pleasant\Salem area the MPSCD committee discussed the years’ projects that included playground upgrades and repairs to all elementary schools, such as new equipment and safety implements, such as rubberized mulch and new swings due to complaints from the community. A new twelve passenger van to add to the school’s fleet of commuter vans and upgrading 18 different elementary school rooms over the next three years with the estimated total coming up to $1.26 million for all proposed projects, which all can be found on the MPCSD website. Part of these projects will be funded by the Construction Fund A.K.A the One Cent Tax which is estimated to bring $2.4 million for the ‘27 fiscal year.
Next discussed was the 2026 fiscal year budget and deficit, with an estimated district revenue budget of $24.88 million dollars the expected expenditures going to surpass the district budget by $1.4 million at $25.92 million which is a 104% of the total years budget. The school board is looking to cut the expenditures by 1.8% over the next two years to help reduce spending to a total of 818 thousand dollars. One of the proposed items was the closure of Salem Elementary. While the decision is one of the proposed items, no decision has been made and there or no plans to close the school for the 2026\27 school year. While Salem elementary is ranked in the top ten of grade schools out of the over 900 in the state of Iowa it has a total student body of 87 students from the Salem area and parts of Mt. Pleasant and open enrollment.
Other options were to cut one section of classes to each grade and increase class size from an average of15-20 students per classroom to 20-25. Cutting up to four teacher positions and already eliminating the social worker positions are other options that have been viewed by the board. MPCSD Superintendent Mr. Henriksen stated that enrollment into the Mt. Pleasant School district has fallen by 35 students on average and has affected the budget for the school district.
While moving the schools to ‘Grade Alike’ (same grades in the building) test scores for the district have gone up moving Mt. Pleasant to a commendable grade with the state education board it hasn’t fully translated to higher enrollment for the district with 75+ children being signed into Harlen elementary’s kindergarten round-up and only five for Salem.
One way brought up to help reduce cost was the idea of putting up solar panels across the school district to reduce the cost of utilities such as turning the old Mapleleaf practice field into a solar farm or parking awnings at the high school. Which was supported by the committed but also brought on concerns of repairs and renovations to current infrastructure to support such a project.
The school bored will meet for its regular meeting on Monday April 13th to further discuss possible budget options.