By MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer

OTTUMWA — Educators have suffered cuts before. But not like the 10 percent across-the-board cuts proposed by Gov. Chet Culver.

“This is the biggest one I’ve ever experienced,” said Eddyville-Blakesburg Superintendent Dean Cook.

“We had heard it was going to be somewhere between 4 and 6 [percent], so it’s much deeper than we anticipated,” said Jim Lindenmayer, president of Indian Hills Community College.

“This is unprecedented,” said Ottumwa Superintendent Jon Sheldahl.

“This is the largest cut to school districts in history,” said Davis County Superintendent Sam Miller.

Administrators in Ottumwa said they had been paying attention to the rumblings from Des Moines, and readied themselves for a funding reduction.

“The scope of the cut exceeds what we expected,” Sheldahl said. “We’d been hearing 5 percent for a while. Because of good stewardship ... we had some money set aside for what we anticipated [would be] a downturn in revenue, but we were surprised by 10 percent. We [planned] for about 5.”

“This could take us back to what we were spending two or three years ago,” Cook said. “Many districts will have moved forward since then. You may have added staff or added a program.”

Even with their forethought and planning, a 5 percent reduction in state funding would have been felt throughout Ottumwa.

“We would have needed to make cuts to meet 5 percent,” said Sheldahl. “We’ll need to make more cuts for 10.”

Where will depend on what the cuts actually look like. Even though the governor said cuts were “across the board,” specific programs could receive cuts of less than 10 percent — or more than 10 percent.

“What we’re doing right now is waiting for [information] on each individual fund item,” Cook said, adding that the Iowa Association of School Boards will be forwarding a breakdown of anticipated cuts.

“The [Davis County] Board of Education and administrative team will evaluate all options carefully and take a measured, long-term approach to solutions,” said Miller. “In light of the current economic situation our district must make adjustments in order to remain fiscally responsible.”

He said the state funding cut has created “some challenging budget decisions” for Davis County.