Reimagining Staffing to Maximize District Resources

In the fall of 2024, the leadership team at Cedar Rapids Community School District (CRCSD) knew they would be facing a $12 million budget deficit in the coming 2025–2026 school year. CRCSD, the third-largest school district in Iowa, had been experiencing a steady decline in student enrollment, dropping from 16,000 students in 2013 to about 14,000 today. The decline was driven by factors such as open enrollment, the emergence of new charter schools, and the state's Educational Savings Account program. With fewer students, the district was receiving fewer dollars to fund its schools. While one-time Covid-19 relief funds through ESSER temporarily delayed difficult financial decisions, the district needed to take action to address the impending budget deficit.

Many districts take a districtwide "belt-tightening" approach to budget deficits, implementing across-the-board cost-cutting. While seemingly equitable, this approach has the unintended consequence of potentially cutting important and effective programs while leaving less effective programs in place. Wanting to bring a more strategic and transparent approach to resourcing its schools, CRCSD engaged District Management Group (DMG) to help clearly diagnose the challenges facing the district and design a solution that would provide sustainability while enabling the district to deliver most effectively for its students. Ultimately, through the design of a strategic staffing model, DMG helped CRCSD fully address its $12 million budget deficit and create a more systematic and effective way of allocating its resources. This was just year one of a multi-year process to effectively manage declining resources.

A Deep Diagnostic Yields Insights

DMG and CRCSD began by reviewing community demographic and enrollment data and assessing student outcomes across schools. Additionally, DMG analyzed staffing levels across all schools, benchmarked against internal guidelines as well as the trends in similar districts across the country. The analysis quickly uncovered that staffing levels were inconsistent among the district's schools. The shifts in enrollment had occurred gradually, and enrollment trends had varied among schools — some had seen increases even as overall district enrollment numbers fell — leading to an inconsistent distribution of resources between schools. As is the case in many districts, there were no clear rules governing how many staff in each role should go to each building based on student enrollment levels and the relative needs of students. To ensure a deep and accurate understanding of district resourcing, in addition to its quantitative analysis, DMG gathered qualitative information through interviews and focus groups with over 60 school and district leaders and staff.

Key findings from the quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed the following:

• Variation in staffing: Some schools and programs were overstaffed, while others were understaffed.
• Variation in student needs: The needs of students (i.e., special education, English learners, and students experiencing poverty) varied among schools, resulting in a wide variation in staffing needs across schools.
• Many one-off positions: Relics of outdated district initiatives or staffing decisions, many positions (i.e., specific interventionists, coaches, facilitators, and paraeducators) had unclear or outdated roles and responsibilities and lacked any connection to a centralized approach to staffing.

At the middle school level alone, a detailed analysis of staffing and course offerings revealed the opportunity to unlock up to 27 teacher FTEs for other purposes by scheduling more efficiently without limiting offerings for students (Exhibit 1).

Based on these insights, DMG identified three key opportunities for CRCSD to improve its approach to staffing, which included (1) developing a clear allocation methodology, (2) improving the process for making staffing decisions, and (3) instituting quick adjustments to take advantage of opportunities for efficiency.

Continuing its partnership with DMG, CRCSD took action and developed the following responses:

1. Student-Based Staffing and Resource Allocation Model: CRCSD opted for a student-based staffing and resource allocation model that establishes baseline staffing levels based on enrollment, and then allocates additional resources to support students with special education needs or language needs or experiencing poverty. School leaders would be able to use these additional resources for more staffing or supplies at their discretion. DMG and CRCSD worked with a team of district stakeholders to develop and finalize these staffing rules to ensure they reflected the vision of the district.
2. Methodology for Making Staffing Decisions: CRCSD developed and documented a clear process for making staffing decisions, grounded in projected actual enrollment levels for each school.
3. Quick Adjustments with a People-First Approach: The district was able to eliminate vacant positions and eliminate positions created by attrition to ensure that very few staff members were impacted by the staffing shifts and reductions. This people-first approach allowed CRCSD to maintain trust with its educators and community while also directly addressing its financial situation.

Reimagining Staffing to Create Long-Term Stability

As a result of this work, CRCSD was able to systematically redesign how it resources its schools, creating a model for district financial sustainability grounded in logical, agreed-upon rules for how resources should be allocated. "Our highest priority is providing every student with a high-quality education in a safe and supportive environment," says CRCSD Superintendent Dr. Tawana Grover. "These adjustments allow us to meet current needs while making targeted investments that support our students and staff."

With DMG's support, CRCSD managed to reduce 27 FTE at the central office, 77 teaching positions across elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as 145 campus support staff positions, bringing district and school-based staffing levels back in line with student enrollment. The district was able to close vacant positions and rely on retirements and attrition to minimize the impact on existing staff members. In collaboration with human resources and the Cedar Rapids Education Association through the collective bargaining process, teachers were realigned, and no staff received Reduction in Force (RIF) notices. Importantly, this approach will help the district avoid budget crises in the future and will create a more predictable approach to staffing and resourcing for district leaders and staff. Looking ahead, the district is planning to reinforce its transparent approach to budgeting and resourcing by creating regular feedback loops with leaders and stakeholders to ensure that community resources go toward the investments that will yield the strongest outcomes for students.