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Davenport School Board discusses five-year budget reduction plan

The district needs to find around $20 million over the next five years to keep up with enrollment losses.

DAVENPORT - In just the past ten years the Davenport Community School District has lost more than 2,000 students and counting.

With fewer students, comes less funding.

Dr. Art Tate says it's not an easy thing for the school board to do, "it affects human beings and it affects the entire district so it's the least popular thing," he said.

The district needs to find around $20 million over the next five years to keep up with enrollment losses.

Starting with the current school year, they hope to save more than $6.5 million.

The plan calls for cutting 13 teachers and six other staff members, "The staff is the most expensive thing we have it's about 80% of our budget," said Tate.

Tate says they will not fire any teachers but will look at not filling positions and offering an early retirement incentive.

Some smaller changes include not buying new text books and possibly shifting the bell schedule.

The board has until April 9th to make a decision on this years budget.

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