By: Jessica Rae
jrae@kcautv.com
Sioux City schools will soon be facing some tough decisions. The federal cuts from the sequestration will affect Sioux City schools more than any other school in the state.
Superintendent Dr. Paul Gausman explained that there are several reasons why Sioux City will see a 5-7% reduction in federal funding.
One reason, the Sioux City's poverty rate is higher than the average, about 60% of Sioux City students receive free or reduced lunches.
Another reason for the reductions is that Sioux City has a large number of special education classes, and a lot of these classes are funded by the federal government.
Gausman says, "It will impact us in a lot of different ways could be staffing, could be transportation, could be supplies and materials. We believe we can make many of these reductions through, what we call attrition, meaning that as people retire we may not fill those positions."
Dr. Gausman was quick to point out, there are 30 different languages spoken in the district's schools, and this causes some barriers as well.
Perhaps the school that will feel the biggest impact of these cuts, is Irving Elementary.
Irving has a large amount of students who are in special needs classes, and a large amount of students whose first language is not English.
Assistant Principal at Irving Elementary Ron Coch says, "We have a lot of support for our students in special education, approximately 120 students on typical IEPs and then we also have our speech students too that are involved in that. I believe that it (the sequestration) probably will affect it a little bit."
Now there are federal laws which require the school district to continue those certain programs even if funding is cut or reduced.
The school board will meet on Monday to discuss a plan of action. Until then nothing is set in stone.
