As the Davenport School District prepares its budget for next year it's also looking ahead two more years. Monday night, the board of education discussed a three year budget reduction plan.
Chief Financial Officer Marsha Tangan says the plan includes spending cuts of 5.6 million dollars next year, 7.2 million the following year, and 5.6 million in cuts the year after that.
"It's a function of the enrollment because last year we lost 300 students. And then also it's a combination of us not receiving the same per pupil amount as the rest of the state which is the equity issue we've been dealing with for the past couple of years."
Enrollment in the Davenport schools is now 15,400 - down 300 from last year, which was down 150 from the previous year. And she's projecting enrollment will continue to fall by 150 per year, due mainly to demographics - fewer children entering kindergarten compared with the number of seniors graduating.
As time goes on, Tangan says, the cuts will increasingly affect the students.
"So there are still some areas there that are not related to the classroom but it's kind of like the low hanging fruit that's all been picked and unfortunately it's going to start getting to the classroom."
Included in the savings projected for next year are early retirements, cuts in administrative staff, and raising the number of students in intermediate and high schools classes.
Formal approval of the 2017-2018 budget is expected early next month so it can be submitted to the state by the annual April 15th deadline.
