For nearly a decade now, Iowa’s public schools have been asked to do more with less. They’ve been asked to shoulder the responsibility of teaching the vast majority of Iowa kids – over 90% of all students in the state – while costs rise and state funding lags.
It is clear, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that public education is no longer a priority for the majority party here in Iowa.
This week, Senate Republicans advanced SSB 3100 through the Senate Education Committee. This bill would set the annual increase in state funding for Iowa’s public schools at 1.75%. (To put that in perspective, the U.S. inflation rate is currently hovering at around 2.7%.) This number means one thing: cuts.
Schools will be forced to cut teacher positions. Districts will cut programs. We’ll see school consolidation and larger class sizes – some districts have even talked about combining entire grade levels. At these proposed funding levels, some school districts won’t be able to meet the new minimum teacher salary requirements the legislature passed a couple of years ago.
This severe underfunding isn’t new, unfortunately, and neither are the consequences. After years of Republican control, many school districts can’t afford simple cost-of-living increases for their personnel. Some districts no longer interview the most qualified teaching candidates, because the district knows the candidate is unaffordable. When schools can’t afford enough teachers, students lose access to the individual attention that can lead to significant growth and development.
Without proper funding, students lose access to beloved programs. In Boone, for example, a 100-year-old school orchestra program was recently terminated for lack of funding. In other school districts, STEM teachers aren’t replaced, so programs designed to prepare students for the future fall behind. When schools can’t afford a full-time language teacher, online instruction is used as an insufficient substitute.
We don’t know what the final school funding number will be. Senate Republicans’ number is different than the governor’s, and House Republicans haven’t introduced their plan yet. What we do know is that these Republican proposals would all see our kids fall even further behind.
We know that for the current school year, Iowa’s level of state funding per student falls $1,000 behind inflation.
We know what schools, teachers, and parents have told us: this is not enough.
We know that Iowa kids deserve much better.