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Closing in on Budget Cuts

After months of discussion, the Davenport School Board will soon have to make some difficult choices. That'll be the message at tonight's meeting from chief financial officer Marsha Tangan.

Iowa sets what's called "spending authority" for school districts and they're not allowed to exceed it. She says it's like the salary cap that many sports teams to have to obey.

For example, the spending authority for the current fiscal year for the Davenport district is about 185 million dollars. 

And to stay within that limit in the coming years, board members will have to reduce spending - how much depends on the Iowa legislature and how much growth it approves for school budgets.

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Might have to cut more than $4 million each year for two years.

Tangan says if a school district goes over its spending authority the state may help it make budget cuts, but in extreme cases has closed districts. She hopes the board will make its spending decisions by the end of the year. 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.