Cedar Rapids schools dilemma

 

Cedar Rapids School Board
(Cindy Garlock is far left front row)

UPDATE: The Cedar Rapids school board decided at their January 12 meeting to defer decision on budget reconciliation for one week while they considered options other than closing schools (Hadish 2026). 

The Cedar Rapids Community School District faces some tough choices in the years ahead. With sharply declining enrollment, and an annual budget deficit in excess of $10 million, the school board is proposing closing and consolidating schools. Of course, they were already doing this, but now must do it on an accelerated timetable and without time or funds to retool buildings. The proposal before the board this week would reportedly save $7 million a year by closing five (or possibly six) elementary schools, and redistributing preschool and middle school students across buildings (King 2026).

Cedar Rapids public school enrollment has declined 13.7 percent in the last eight years, from 16,895 in 2017-18 (roughly the long-term average for years before that) to 14,575 in 2025-26. These numbers come from the date of record in October, explained board member Cindy Garlock, so the actual number may have increased since then. Since state funding is based on official enrollment numbers, the long-term decline represents $51 million in lost revenue between 2020 and 2027.

Grand opening of Trailside Elementary, 2024
(combined attendance areas of two other schools)

Enrollment declines have occurred despite nearly-stable school age population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Communities Survey, Cedar Rapids had 21,671 residents aged 5-17 in 2023, up slightly from 20,580 in 2013. That means CRSD was enrolling about 82 percent of school age children in 2013, but only about 70 percent ten years later. A lot of Cedar Rapids high school graduates are not being replaced in the new cohort of kindergartners.

By far the biggest source of enrollment loss is students who enroll in non-district schools, said Garlock in her presentation to this week to the Cedar Rapids Noon Lions Club. The largest portion of these enroll in other public school districts near Cedar Rapids (College Community, Linn Mar, Marion Independent). However, she pointed to significant numbers enrolling in charter or private schools, facilitated by Iowa's generous voucher program. Private schools have always flourished in our town, but the state funding surely influences some families' choices.

Taylor Elementary was renovated instead of being closed after the 2008 flood,
but would now be shuttered under the school district's plan

So what is to be done? In the short term, the school district's options are limited, as they rely on state funding and local property taxes (which the state keeps trying to cut), rather than any source they can control. In the longer term, it would be good to know why families are leaving the district. There are a lot of theories out there (behavioral issues in the classroom, older facilities, racism/white flight, e.g.), but I don't know how much solid evidence there is for any of these.

At the state level, I'd leave the voucher program in place, while advocating guarantees of quality public education for everyone. I'm not crazy about vouchers, particularly for religious schools, but to advocate their repeal so that we can make families stay in the district is not a good look. I don't know that there is a public interest in whether students enroll in private or public schools, as long as they attain legitimate educational objectives. There are public interests in ensuring opportunity for all Iowa children, neighborhood schools, and encountering diversity. If the state commits resources to all schools, instead of having both thumbs on the scale as they do now, we could indulge the legislature funding private schools. We should expect more from our state government than annual tax cuts.

Can the City of Cedar Rapids do more to support public schools? If Johnson School, currently on the bubble, is closed, there will be no elementary schools within two miles of the city center. (The Grant-Wilson complex is 2.2 miles away.) Cedar Rapids has for decades developed outward without regard to its effect on the community or on government budgets. The schools' problem is a sign it's past time for a new approach.