Tensions between Democrats and Republicans in Iowa over how much is enough to increase funding to public schools bubbled to the surface in a legislative forum Friday morning in Davenport, hours after the state House narrowly passed an amended bill that would overhaul the state’s Area Education Agencies, raise teacher pay and increase state aid to schools by 2.5%.
“The one area we have continued to underfund are our public schools,” Sen. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, told the audience at the Quad Cities Chamber-hosted legislative forum on the St. Ambrose University campus.
Winckler said school districts aren’t able to keep up with increasing costs, and that the state should approve a larger increase in State Supplemental Aid than 2.5%.
“We should be investing in our public education systems and be giving them more than the 2.5% that we see in the budget,” Winckler said. “At this particular time, we can afford it and we can do it.”
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Rep. Mike Vondran, R-Davenport, disagreed, noting that the House’s bill on top of a 2.5% increase in supplemental aid, also included funding for teacher pay and supplemental staff.Â
“It’s not just talking about numbers, it’s talking about what it is that we can do to make things real,” Vondran said. “We’re talking about lives here, we’re talking about our most valued assets, our children, let’s get serious about that. It’s not just about a percentage. There’s a lot more to it.”
The bill rolled together an overhaul of the Area Education Agencies with state supplemental aid and teacher pay. Previously, those measures were separate proposals.Â
The proposal passed 51-47 with nine Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against it.Â
It is the latest attempt by Republicans to deliver changes to the state’s Area Education Agencies. The topic has consumed much of the legislative session after Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds made it a priority in her Condition of the State speech to kick off the session in January.
Iowa’s nine AEAs oversee special education in the state and provide consulting services to school districts in their areas.Â
The governor argues Iowa’s special education test scores have not kept up with the rest of the nation, but her proposal to allow schools to look elsewhere for services prompted fierce opposition from parents of special education students and educators who are concerned diverting funds from AEAs would hurt special education services. Some superintendents are in favor of the proposal who want more control over their special education dollars.Â
The House version passed Thursday evening would, once fully phased in, require schools to spend 90% of their special education funding with the AEA and 10% could be used for special education through a third party.Â
Rep. Gary Mohr, R-Bettendorf, was among the nine Republicans that voted against the bill. Speaking with the Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus, he said he had concerns about centralizing more control at the state level under the Department of Education and making the local boards more advisory rather than a supervisory.Â
“I’m a big proponent of local control,” Mohr said.Â
The other reason he voted no was because he preferred the state set up a task force to include special needs parents, teachers and special needs personnel to identify changes needed and put forward a proposal rather than the other way around.Â
He emphasized that he supported the SSA increase and teacher pay raises, but voted no on the overall bill because of his concerns in the AEA provisions.Â
Work-based learning
A work-based learning bill proposed by the governor is stalled for now in the statehouse while funding is worked out, Mohr told the audience.Â
The bill would create a workforce opportunity fund for Iowa Workforce Development programs with up to $30 million from a state unemployment reserve fund.Â
Mohr said a work-based learning program fund “in theory I think is very good.”
But he questioned taking $30 million from the unemployment reserve fund.Â
“It looks to me like we’re using one-time money to fund an ongoing expense, and that I don’t support. …It has nothing to do with the value of the bill, but I’m sitting on the bill until I can get answers because I’m not going to use one-time money to fund an ongoing expense,” he said.
Sen. Kerry Gruenhagen, R-Walcott, said the bill sets up a funding stream for on-the-job learning, for example if a student wanted to become a diesel mechanic or carpenter, they could receive credits for it in community college or high schools.
Gruenhagen disagreed with concerns about funding it with the unemployment reserve. He said the reserve fund hasn’t been drawn down even in the recession years of ’08 and ’09 nor during COVID-19, and there was enough funding to put toward the program.
Immigration
In response to an audience member who asked about how the state is addressing illegal immigration, Republicans praised a bill the House passed this week that would allow state law enforcement officials to arrest and order the removal of individuals who are not legal U.S. residents. A federal judge has put a hold on similar proposals in a ruling on a Texas law.Â
Democrats, however, were more critical of the Republican bill.Â
Rep. Ken Croken, D-Davenport, questioned how the state would send the people it arrests to a port of entry, and whether that would take local law enforcement authorities away from other public safety work.
“I take no pleasure whatsoever in knowing that Iowa state troopers will be driving immigrants to the border with Mexico,” Croken said.Â
Gruenhagen, referencing earlier comments on education, claimed illegal immigration is increasing costs to schools.Â
“When you have different language coming into our schools, it’s costing our teachers money out of their pocket,” Gruenhagen said. “They need translation software to teach these students. Every school district I spoke to prior to session…did have an increase. This is not only a direct cost to taxpayers with your property tax with your school funding, teachers are also burdened with these different languages that they have in a class of 20, 25, 30 students.”
Vondran asked the Davenport schools Superintendent TJ Schneckloth, who was in the audience, how many languages were spoken in the Davenport school district.Â
Schneckloth replied 30 languages. He added that school districts in the area have robust English Language Learning programs, but schools can have difficulty when a student show up unexpectedly and the school must establish a program, which can result in some lost learning for the student.Â
He said locating translators in all those languages has been a big challenge and that the school district is preparing for more refugees to come to the Iowa side, while in the past more resources were located on the Illinois side.Â
Croken then said, “Having 30 languages in your school district is also an asset, it’s not just a problem, it’s an asset as we’re trying to get young people ready to be world-ready, that starts in elementary school.”Â
Vondran said he agreed with Croken.Â
“Challenges turn into opportunities, and that’s what we need to be focused on,” Vondran said. “Instead of looking for the pain and the problem, look for the opportunity that’s going to result from that.”Â
Other topics: rail, victim services
Maggie Tinsman, a former state senator and lobbyist for greater protections against human trafficking, asked legislators again for an additional $5 million for victim services fund in the state.Â
Lawmakers thanked Tinsman for her relentless advocacy on the issue, and Mohr said he hoped to increase the victim services fund by some amount. He said they were also waiting on a federal decision that he said may reduce the federal funding toward victim services.Â
In February, the Iowa House passed a bill that would enter Iowa into the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Compact to coordinate among Midwestern states to promote development of passenger and high-speed passenger rail in the Midwest.Â
The Quad-Cities has for more than a decade awaited the construction of a rail line connecting Moline to Chicago, and while the Illinois and federal funding is there, negotiations with the rail company that owns some of the lines have stalled for years.Â
Iowa also has proposed in the past supporting a passenger rail system to Iowa City.Â
Mohr said while he’s nostalgic for passenger rail, which he said he rode as a kid, he didn’t think the math worked out long term for passenger rail to support itself.Â
“I’m not willing to invest your tax money ad-infinitum to a taxpayer assisted passenger rail service,” while Amtrack goes across the southern part of Iowa.Â
Croken said he’d support more passenger rail if it got people places more efficiently.Â
Kurth agreed and said more people taking passenger rail would take cars off the road or reduce plane rides, which would have environmental benefits.Â