Keokuk district pens letter for partnerships

KEOKUK - The Keokuk School Board continues to engage in work to support opportunities for students with an eye on continued success in the Keokuk Community School District and southeast Iowa as a whole.
With this in mind, the board has once again reached out to neighboring Lee County school districts, Central Lee and Fort Madison, to continue to expand the educational and activity partnerships through a potential enhanced comprehensive sharing agreement between the three districts to better support the county.
The conversation was suggested because Keokuk believes Central Lee and Fort Madison have a shared mutual commitment to the success of students in southeast Iowa. 
"As we move forward, we hope to grow our relationships with the other Lee County school districts to expand the opportunities in the entire region for every student in Lee County," Dr. Kathy Dinger, KCSD Superintendent, explained.
"As a district, we believe supporting students through expanded programming, while remaining financially responsible, is the most important focus of education today.”
In Iowa and in the nation, the Lee County districts specifically share similar challenges while educating students, specifically declining populations in Iowa and wide-spread declining enrollment in the state, increased financial constraints at the state and federal levels that include unfunded state mandates from often changing legislation, all while located in a some-what secluded corner of the state.

A more comprehensive shared agreement could mean combining additional athletic programs that each school has lower participation rates, such as baseball and softball, with Central Lee for example, which Dinger mentioned was one idea at the school board meeting on Monday, April 20. As well as an expanded list of advanced placement (AP) classes for all Lee County students, instead of only by district, to truly advance the educational offerings in southeast Iowa and provide far more opportunities for preparation for higher education.
A letter was drafted by Dinger, reviewed by the Keokuk School Board, and mailed to the neighboring school districts by school board president Clint Wray to gauge interest in starting a conversation. There have been no formal discussions or proposals. 
Lee County schools currently partner on the Lee County CEO program, which is offered to juniors and seniors at Central Lee High School, Fort Madison High School, Holy Trinity Catholic, and Keokuk High School. And each school has some athletic sharing agreements for specific sports programs.
The Keokuk school district continues to put every decision through the lens of the district’s commitment to financial responsibility to the community specifically through discussions that support the recently updated Budget Reduction Plan.
The plan was introduced as the district, along with nearly all other Iowa school districts and nationally, has been faced with ongoing rising operational costs, local population decline, and a statewide school funding formula that does not match inflation rates. Each adjustment has been made to better manage the impact of a tax rate increase for local property owners.
The district continues to work hard in support of the Keokuk community and southeast Iowa.