State Senator Amanda Ragan of Mason City says the highlights of the 2012 legislative session include helping create jobs, reform education, expand educational opportunity and balance the state budget without raising taxes.
“When we pushed partisan divisions off to the side, we got good things done,” said Ragan. “From helping Iowa businesses grow to improving local schools, we were successful when we worked together.”
Ragan’s highlights include:
· Encouraging economic growth and job creation through targeted business incentives, university-supported business development, and funding for local Workforce Development field offices that help out-of-work Iowans find jobs and local businesses find workers.
· Expanded workforce training to ease Iowa’s skilled worker shortage by expanding the mission of Iowa’s community colleges and benefiting from their relationships with local businesses.
· Launching education reform that reinforces the importance of early grade literacy, increases parental involvement, establishes annual teacher performance reviews, expands student assessments, and continues funding for smaller class sizes for kids learning to read.
· Making tuition more affordable at community colleges, state universities and private colleges as well as expanded tuition grants for returning National Guard soldiers.
· Intensifying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) efforts in K12 schools along with expanded career-oriented engineering education.
· Jumpstarting to Iowa’s solar and geothermal energy industry through targeted tax credits.
· Reforming Iowa’s mental health system to ensure that all Iowa families receive high quality services regardless of where they live.
“I voted to provide more support for local schools and to significantly cut commercial property taxes,” Ragan said. “Unfortunately, there weren’t the votes to make the changes that so many of my constituents wanted.”
“I want to thank the people from my district who took the time to contact me during the session. Your ideas, suggestions and priorities are reflected in many of the bills that made it to the governor’s desk,” said Ragan.
