Governor Reynolds and her fellow Republicans in the House and Senate have agreed to raise general state support of public schools by $160 per student, which amounts to a 2% hike.
“The state is now going to allocate…almost $4 billion in funding to our public schools,” said Representative Dan Gehlbach, a Republican from Urbandale. “…Factor in local property taxes…and you add on all federal funds and the SAVE penny, which is the Local Option Sales Tax for school infrastructure, our schools are operating with total resources exceeding $11 billion annually.”
The plan is slightly more than Senate Republicans originally suggested and slightly less than House Republicans proposed. It will provide the 2% per pupil spending increase Governor Reynolds called for in January.
House Democrats say this is the 9th year out of 10 that state funding for public schools fails to keep pace with inflation. Representative Heather Matson of Ankeny said a 2% increase won’t provide enough to cover schools’ operating costs — including the state-required minimum salaries for teachers. “This bill is survival mode funding. In some cases, it’s not even that,” Matson said. “…Iowans should no longer accept this irresponsibility.”
Representative Mary Lee Madison, a Democrat from Des Moines, said this level of funding won’t lead to world class results in classrooms. “Underfunding our schools is not fiscal responsibility. It is civic neglect,” Madison said. “We must invest in schools as if the future depended on it, because it does.”
Gehlbach, the only Republican to speak during today’s House debate, said the demographic reality is there’s been a more than 5% decline in public school enrollment in the past decade, while the number of school staff has grown by 11%. “With schools losing students in their buildings and adding so much to administrative costs, I would suggest they do what Iowa has done and take a hard look at spending and budgeting,” Gehlbach said.
Gehlbach was among the 58 House Republicans who approved the plan, while five other Republicans joined Democrats in voting against it. The package is likely to win Senate approval next week.
The 2% per pupil spending increase will apply to the state-funded Education Savings Accounts for private school students, too — so each will get $8148 for the next school year.
The spending package includes $7 million to raise pay for teachers’ aides in public schools as well as some state money to help districts with large busing budgets.
