Iowa’s public K-12 schools will get a 2% increase in general state support — so that total state spending on each student will be over $8,100 next year. Republicans in the Iowa House approved the plan late last week and on Monday Senate Republicans voted to send it to the governor. Republican Senator Lynn Evans, a retired superintendent from Aurelia, says there are bookkeeping changes, too, like updating October’s enrollment count in January and sending school districts state funding in quarterly rather than monthly installments.
The decision also means every state-funded Education Savings Account for a private school student will get over 81-hundred dollars for the next school year. Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says Iowa’s public schools need far more than a two percent state funding increase and school boards will be forced to cut programs.
Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, says local public schools are struggling, cutting staff and programs — and some may be forced to consolidate.
The deal includes a commitment to spend seven MILLION dollars raising the pay of teachers’ aides, plus money to help school districts that spend more than the statewide average on busing students to and from school. House Speaker Pat Grassley says those were items House Republicans pushed for.
School boards must negotiate pay with staff, hold public hearings and file a final budget plan by April 30th — for the fiscal year that starts July 1st.
