But the cuts may only get tougher, Sheldahl said. But instead of getting 2 percent allowable growth, schools will get the 4 percent they wanted — with one drawback.

“They’re going to give us 4 percent growth spending authority. But in state aid, we’ll only get half of the four percent with the option to levee the other half [from local] property tax,” he said.

Doing that to Ottumwa taxpayers is not a good idea, Mitchell said. Sheldahl agreed. He said this board has worked to keep taxes from overburdening the community, and does not tax the maximum.

“What we bring to our board is going to have to have some changes in spending in lieu of just raising taxes,” he said. “We don’t think we can just indiscriminately raise property taxes just because the state tells us we can do that.”

Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mgnewman@mchsi.com.