DES MOINES – The Iowa Legislature is in session and currently considering proposals for school spending that may limit the ability of school districts to spend more money in the future.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has proposed a 2% spending increase in Supplemental State Aid (SSA) and the Senate has proposed 1.75%. A proposal from the House of Representatives is forthcoming and may propose more or less. Advocates for higher levels that these proposals point to inflation levels at about 2.7%, “so anything less than that means districts are losing purchasing power,” according to a school superintendent. “There are about 7,300 fewer students in Iowa public schools this year, so increases in SSA begin with a running start.
As revenue growth in the state is predicted to be 4.2%, advocates for more school funding believe an increase of 4% or more “is both reasonable and doable.”
In actual dollars, the Senate bill would increase school spending by about $12.5 million statewide when compared to the previous year. The predicted revenue growth, coupled with fewer students statewide, would allow for approximately $140.5 million more in responsible, public education spending. (Increasing by 2.7% is about $61 million for additional context.) The Governor’s bill is proposing about $66.7 million, but only about $23.7 million rolls forward to ensuing years.
Additionally, the Governor proposed $43 million in one-time money to provide property tax relief for those districts going on the budget guarantee.
In a related matter, the Senate has proposed a property tax bill that will take money from SAVE (the state penny for school infrastructure), lower the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) rate, limit money in the Management Fund, and impact our ability to bond going forward due to caps on growth.
Governor Reynolds’ proposal would take less from SAVE but would not impact school levies.
As negotiations within the and between the two chambers and the governor continue (all dominated by Republicans), more changes are likely before one common resolution is reached that will likely reach Reynolds’ desk.
This is very much needed. Schools spend too aggressively with little to zero return. Thank you Kim.
“little to zero return”. Are you talking about yourself?
AI can teach the kids. Or homeschool um. Why should I pay?
Yep. Kids get taught to hate America and skip class to go bananas supposedly “protesting” … shut it all down. They can work the factories like 100 years ago, see if that suits them.
As always, change is rough
The republicans want to do away with public schools. What they are doing will eventually force smaller schools to close and make them bus their children miles away for an education. Pathetic.
Might as well. Clearly showing their value is dwindling, quickly. AI is going to change everything. Time to think out of the box, this is no longer the 1800s.
Got any statistics to back that up? Let’s compare public schools to private schools and see who wins.
Oh, wait. Private schools don’t have to make public anything that might make comparisons easier. “Iowa Code, across the board, tends to respect the differences between political subdivisions of the state (counties, cities, townships, and public institutions like public schools) and the nature of private institutions. Iowa imposes limited disclosure requirements on private schools. Nonpublic schools are not required to publish budgets, curriculum, or most outcome data. The 2023 Students First Act (ESA program) requires participating schools to be accredited but did not add new transparency rules (State of Iowa, 2023). Private schools file basic enrollment data (fall/spring surveys) and, if state-accredited, a school improvement plan (Iowa Department of Education, 2023a). Independently-accredited schools face fewer reporting requirements to the state and exponentially more accountability to their accreditors. Critics note that Iowa’s ESA program bars the state Auditor from reviews or audits of school spending. Nationally, this level of oversight aligns with most if not all choice programs. A 2020 federal review found few states require private choice schools to report graduation rates, teacher degrees, background checks, or financial audits; for example, only six states mandate reporting of graduation rates in choice schools (U.S. Department of Education, 2019).”
And that’s why this is called Whiner’s
This is a news story not something that was in the Whiner’s Den.