North Tama in the News

North Tama is producing some great results, within and beyond our classrooms! The accomplishments of several Redhawk alumni, faculty, and family members have been featured in the news media recently. In today's blog post, I'll share links to the recent media coverage showing off the talents and accomplishments of several members of the North Tama educational family.

NT alumnus Nikki (Wagner) Hynek

North Tama alumnus Nikki (Wagner) Hynek was recently featured in this article in The Gazette focusing on her entrepreneurial spirit and the cosmetics company she recently founded: Dollup Beauty Looking Good

Alumnus Jeff Morrison with Bruce Morrison

  
The Gazette also featured an article focusing on Bruce Morrison (husband of teacher Judy Morrison) and his retirement from farming, as well as a look at the changes in the farming industry Bruce has witnessed over the years. The article was written by North Tama alum Jeff Morrison: Dramatic change on the family farm in a single generation


   
North Tama's High School Agricultural Education Teacher and FFA Advisor, Mr. Matt Cibula, is also a successful purebred Gelbvieh cattle producer along with his wife Tina. They were recently featured in this article in the Iowa Farmer Today magazine: Producer preps by adding windbreaks, watching feed.  It's great to have a leader in the cattle industry serving as the leader of our North Tama Agricultural Education program!

You may have heard that North Tama was recently selected by the Governor's STEM Advisory Council as a recipient of the Iowa STEM Redesigned Learning Environment (RLE) grant, which will allow our elementary to redesign one of our classrooms into a learning space that is custom-tailored for integrated STEM and Literacy instruction. As a classroom that will focus on early childhood STEM and Literacy Integration, this will be a first-of-its-kind classroom in the state of Iowa. We've received media coverage in a number of places as a recipient of this grant, and more media attention is sure to follow.  Check out the links below:

L to R: Jeff Beneke, NE Iowa Regional STEM Hub Manager, Lisa Chizek, 
NT 5th & 6th Grade Teacher & STEM Coordinator, Dr. Beth Van Meeteren, 
UNI Regents Center for Early Ed, Vonna Watson, NT 1st Grade Teacher,
David Hill, NT Superintendent, and Josh Youel, NT Elementary Principal.

• The Governor's STEM Advisory Council Website named North Tama as a grant recipient in this article: 12 business-education partnerships set to innovate

• While this story from KCRG-TV9 features the proposed grant project in the Charles City district, the North Tama project is mentioned: Four-district partnership, 11 others awarded state STEM grants. KCRG has expressed an interest in coming to North Tama this spring to do a feature story on our new STEM classroom. 

• This article, currently posted on the North Tama Website and soon to be featured in other area publications, tells the full story of our plans: Grant Will Result in Exciting Changes for North Tama Elementary Students

The effort to apply for this grant was led by Lisa Chizek and Vonna Watson. Congrats to Lisa, Vonna, and all of the North Tama Elementary staff!

We're proud of the staff, students, and alumni at North Tama. Watch the news in the weeks, months, and years to come...we're bound to see more great results coming from our classrooms, our programs, our graduates, and our faculty!

Governor Backs Down on Previous School Funding Proposal

North Tama District Patrons, 

I wanted to share this article from yesterday's Des Moines Register with you. The article gives us a "sneak peek" into what the governor is thinking with regard to Supplemental State Aid (SSA) for the coming budget year. Governor Branstad said yesterday that he is required by law to look at December’s revenue estimates before he can recommend any funding levels. It's funny how our state government intends to follow THAT law, but not the one requiring them to approve the level of funding a year in advance, allowing districts to plan ahead. The governor had previously said that he'd like to see SSA set at about 2.45% for this coming year, but now he's saying that he can't commit to that right now.    

The Governor said, “I have to wait until we have the December revenue estimate to base my budget...It’s my hope that we can do (2.45 percent), but it’s going to be a little more difficult that the October revenue estimate was reduced by $125 million.”

My best guess...the governor will end up recommending somewhere between 1.25 and 1.75% SSA, and after a great deal of politcal wrangling, we'll end up with somewhere in between 1.25 and 2%. This is simply not enough to keep up with the rising costs that school districts are facing, especially considering the fact that schools have been "shorted" for several years. Schools are very likely to end up with 1.25 to 2% unless MANY, MANY Iowans contact their legislators to express how upset they are that schools have been shortchanged repeatedly over the past five years. I strongly urge you to get involved and to advocate for Iowa schools! 

The full Des Moines Register article can be viewed here: 

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/education/2015/11/16/branstad-must-revisit-previous-education-funding-proposal/75894318/

Strings Attached - Categorical Funding in Schools

This blog post was submitted for publication in the Friday, November 13 edition of the Traer Star Clipper.

In my column two weeks ago, I explained that North Tama’s certified enrollment is down by 39 students this fall compared to a year ago, and that our enrollment has decreased by about 100 students over the past six years. While our school district’s current financial position is still good, I am very concerned about the long-term implications for North Tama if the trends of declining enrollment and inadequate state funding don’t change.

In this week’s column, I’d like to explain why a school district like North Tama is able to pay for a major facility renovation project -- such as the recent new restroom building at the softball/baseball complex or the remodeling of our secondary office -- while being forced to reduce staff, share administrators, or take other cost-saving measures. It comes down to the way schools are funded in the state of Iowa. A large percentage of the money schools receive is considered categorical funding.

Categorical funding is financial support that is targeted for particular categories of students, certain special programs, or other very specific purposes. North Tama receives categorical funds in areas such as capital projects, dropout prevention, at-risk programs, special

education, core curriculum implementation, talented and gifted programs, professional development, teacher quality, and early literacy to name a few. School districts accept this money with STRINGS ATTACHED, meaning we are obligated to spend the funds exclusively as directed by the state or federal government, or the agency granting the funds. The funds that were recently spent on the new construction at the athletic complex and the remodeling at the high school came from the capital projects fund which can ONLY be spent on projects like this. Spending this money on salaries, supplies, utility bills, or other general expenses would be illegal.

While it is great to have a source of funding for construction and for other special programs and projects, the allowable uses of these funds is quite restrictive, and these funds do nothing to help us pay the general bills such as utilities and salaries. More than 80% of most school district’s budgets is taken up with these types of general expenses. Adequate funding or lack of adequate funding to pay these general expenses is the main factor in whether a school is able to maintain its long-term viability. The problem is for many schools is that the state continues to trend toward providing more categorical funding streams while providing fewer general fund dollars. To keep the school’s doors open, adequate support for our general fund is a necessity.

In a press conference on August 3, Governor Branstad spoke about his desire to continue the practice of earmarking funds for specific programs. Specifically, he stated, “It’s not like the old days -- you don’t just ‘throw money’ at schools...We want to become best in America again and I think that’s going to take specific and strategic investments in education that focus on things that really make a difference.” His strategy is to shift from providing general fund dollars to providing more categorical funding that is focused on specific programs that he believes will improve student achievement.

While I agree that many of these programs are great and will truly make a difference for our students, I think we also need to understand that when categorical funding is provided at the expense of general funding many of our smaller rural school districts will be forced to cut teachers and support staff, and may eventually need to close their school buildings or merge with another district. Is this really what is best for students?  

The North Tama School Board’s number one goal is to maintain the financial stability of the district and retain existing programs so that North Tama will remain a viable K-12 school. Declining enrollment and decreased flexibility in funding due to the shift from general funding to categorical funding will make it even more difficult for us to achieve this goal. To make this goal a reality, we will need to be intelligent and intentional with our resources and will need to take further measures to cut costs during the coming months and years.

The 2016 legislative session is just 8 weeks away. Please consider contacting your legislators and the governor's office to let them know that it is critical for them to provide adequate GENERAL FUND support for our schools. Our legislators need to realize that many smaller schools are struggling to keep the doors open due to declining enrollment and unreliable, inadequate funding. By providing adequate supplemental state aid WITHOUT STRINGS ATTACHED, local school boards can have the flexibility to set priorities and continue providing a quality education for our students. The students in our smaller schools deserve the same opportunity as students in larger urban and suburban schools. These students represent the future of our state, and they deserve nothing less.  

You are welcome to visit my blog at http://redhawksupt.blogspot.com/ where you can read all of my Star Clipper columns and leave comments if you wish. You are also welcome to follow me on Twitter, where my handle is @DavidRobertHill.