In last week’s column, I listed the three basic types of sharing arrangements available to schools: 1) Whole-grade sharing; 2) Program & Staff Sharing; and 3) Operational Sharing. In my column, I emphasized that North Tama is NOT headed toward a whole-grade sharing agreement or merger with any other school district. However, the district is currently benefitting from other types of sharing, and we are investigating more possibilities for sharing for the benefit of our students.
Last week’s column focused on two types of sharing -- Whole Grade Sharing and Program/Staff Sharing -- and described the current staff & program sharing agreements that we have in place with some of our neighboring districts as well as the sharing arrangements that are being considered for next year.
This week, we’ll continue with a description of the third type of sharing arrangement, called operational sharing. If you happened to miss last week’s column and would like to read these two columns together, you can find the article on my blog at http://redhawksupt.blogspot.com/.
OPERATIONAL SHARING
As a way of encouraging school districts to share certain operational positions, the state of Iowa offers a major financial incentive. The state allows districts sharing certain types of positions to count “extra” students in the district’s enrollment, resulting in additional spending authority (funded partially through local property taxes and partially through state aid). Districts involved in operational sharing receive two financial benefits: 1) The SAVINGS that come with sharing the cost of the individual’s contract; and, 2) Additional REVENUE in the form of the ability to count more students in their enrollment.
The law lists certain positions that qualify for the incentive and the number of students that can be counted as an incentive. The following table lists the positions and the number of students allowed as an incentive:
Superintendent (8 students)
Business Manager (5 students)
Buildings & Grounds Director (5 students)
Transportation Director (5 students)
Human Resources Director (5 students)
Guidance Counselor (3 students)
Curriculum Director (3 students)
Districts are allowed to count up to 21 additional students as an incentive for operational sharing agreements. Some of our surrounding districts have been “maxed out” on operational sharing for years, counting 21 additional students year after year and receiving the associated funding. This additional funding has been a large part of the financial solution for many smaller Iowa districts over the years.
While many other districts are making the most of operational sharing, these incentives have largely been an untapped resource at North Tama. North Tama currently counts just three additional students through operational sharing, as a result of our sharing a curriculum director with GMG, BCL-UW, and Gladbrook-Reinbeck. While our superintendent is also shared, our arrangement doesn’t qualify for the operational sharing incentives because I’m a principal at Union and the superintendent here -- the law requires that the person hold the same job function in both districts.
We are currently having discussions with two other districts that could allow us to count an additional 13 students by sharing our superintendent and transportation director. The North Tama board recently approved a sharing agreement with the Gladbrook-Reinbeck district to share me as the superintendent of both districts. If this agreement is approved by the G-R board at their next meeting, I will officially become the superintendent of both districts starting on July 1. We are also having discussions with another area district about sharing North Tama’s transportation director in the coming year.
If these two operational sharing agreements become a reality, North Tama will count 13 additional students in next year’s enrollment, resulting in nearly $86,000 in additional income annually for our district. We’ll still have a superintendent in the district about half of the time, so the students, staff, and school community really won’t see much of a change in that respect. As for our transportation director, we will all need to get used to the idea of sharing his time with another district. While this will be an adjustment, these types of opportunities are exactly what we need to be looking for! They will save our district money AND bring in additional revenues, while not limiting any opportunities for our students. I see it as a “win-win” for North Tama.
We will continue to look for further opportunities for program/staff sharing and operational sharing, as both of these types of arrangements have the potential to help us achieve our overall goal of financial stability and viability for the long term. I would like to thank those who took time to contact me with your questions and concerns about sharing, and I encourage others to do the same. Perhaps you have a question, a concern, or even an idea to help the North Tama district as we move forward. You are welcome to visit my blog at http://redhawksupt.blogspot.com/ where you can leave comments or suggestions if you wish. You are also welcome to follow me on Twitter, where my handle is @DavidRobertHill, or of course I can be contacted at the school. I appreciate your interest in the future of North Tama Schools!
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