Iowa Democratic leader warns: “Trouble ahead for Iowa public schools”

DES MOINES – “With the legislative session over halfway done, new troubling signs are emerging for Iowa public schools,” Iowa’s top Democrat in the House warned today, with big cuts to budgets or districts dissolving altogether.

According to Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, representing Iowa House district 32, an affluent Des Moines metro suburban area, things are beginning to look bleak for Iowa schools if the dominating Republicans that run this state do not start ponying up the cash. She sent an update this morniing outlining the threat:

Waterloo announced $10 million in budget cuts with 60 staff positions cut. The Orient-Macksburg School District is dissolving after this school year and Pella is facing budget cuts. Cedar Rapids is facing a $12 million budget deficit due to low state funding and is cutting back 6% of its workforce. In Dubuque, one of the elementary schools is closing and property taxes are still going up.

After a decade of low funding, it isn’t surprising but there’s more uncertainty ahead.

Over a month ago, Iowa House and Senate GOP leaders passed two different versions of a bill to fund public schools next year. Democrats in the House and Senate both recommended a modest 5% increase in funding for public schools, the Senate GOP lawmakers want a 2% increase next year, and the House GOP wants a slightly higher increase of 2.25%.

So far, House and Senate GOP leaders haven’t come to a resolution. In order to keep public education a priority in the state budget, our law says that public school funding was to be set by lawmakers last month, but it’s been ignored so far. Iowa public schools are required to have their budgets set for the next school year in April, but it’s impossible to do that without knowing what the state is going to chip in.

In the years ahead, private school vouchers still pose the biggest threat to quality public schools. With the income cap set to come off next year, estimates show over $1 billion will be shifted from public schools to private schools in the first four years alone. That’s a huge amount when two-thirds of the vouchers go to kids who were already in private schools.

We also learned last week that private schools are raising tuition again next year. Private catholic schools announced the first 10% tuition increase with more in the year ahead. A study last year found kindergarten tuition at private schools was up over 21%. It just proves that vouchers were never about affordability for more families, it’s just a way to funnel public money to private schools.

At the federal level, we’re closely watching what’s next after the new head of the US Department of Education cut the agency in half last week. Last year, Iowa’s K-12 public schools received over $1 billion from the federal government, which is mostly designated for special education services to kids with disabilities. In addition to K-12 funding, the federal Education Department administers loans and Pell Grants for Iowa kids who attend community colleges, private colleges, and public universities.

Iowa public schools were once the best in the nation and they’ve always been a source of pride for Iowa. After a decade of low funding and the shift of public money to vouchers, it’s tough to watch the Governor and GOP leaders keep chipping away at our public schools because their politics comes first.

I’m going to keep fighting for our public schools because the 90% of Iowa kids who attend their public school deserve it.

There’s a simple way to end the uncertainty for our public schools: put people over politics.