Senator Ragan gives update on education in Iowa

From Senator Amanda Ragan –

Iowa’s future depends on high-quality local schools. Our best hope for expanding Iowa’s middle class is investing the necessary resources in our students and educators. That’s why I voted this week toreverse the trend that has dropped Iowa to 35th in the nation when it comes to how much we invest in each student.

Boosting school funding by 4 percent in each of the next two years would reverse Iowa’s slide downwards and start us moving in the right direction. The Senate-approved plan focuses on paying for the basics, including purchasing up-to-date textbooks, reducing class sizes, keeping the lights on, gassing up the buses and strengthening teacher quality.

The Senate vote follows an earlier vote in the Iowa House for a 1.25 percent increase. Iowa school superintendents have warned that such a small increase would fail to keep up with costs, resulting in teacher layoffs, crowded classrooms, fewer classes and outdated materials. As Iowa’s financial support for students has fallen, so has our academic progress compared to other states.

In other education news, Iowa has become the first state to create a teacher leadership system designed to boost student achievement and increase teaching expertise. The overriding philosophy is that to improve student learning, you must improve the instruction students receive each day. The system rewards effective teachers with leadership opportunities and higher pay, attracts promising new teachers with competitive starting salaries, and fosters greater collaboration for all teachers to learn from each other.

During a recent update on the teacher leader system, legislators learned that schools don’t want to trade increased investments in teacher leadership for basic school aid. The teacher leadership program will help make the classroom experience the best it can be, but it must have a strong school foundation to build upon. One Iowa district would have to make about $300,000 in cuts under the House bill to increase school funding by only 1.25 percent. That would significantly diminish the impact of the $340,000 they’ll receive in teacher leader grants.

Our local school districts selected for the teacher leader program include: