Chronicle Editorial

Education among agenda items for Iowa State legislature
     With the new year in almost a full swing for most (even though you may write 2016 on your dates still), state legislatures across the nation have already been hard at work, setting agendas for the issues that will dominate its sessions.            
     This week, Travis Fischer sat down with Speaker of the House Linda Upmeyer (R-Iowa District 54) and State Senator Amanda Ragan (D-Iowa District 27) to discuss some of the more pressing matters, like the state’s budget deficit, but there is another facet of legislating that should generate some dialogue amongst law makers.
     According to a Waterloo Courier article last week — one of several in a series outlining 2017 legislative issues — the Iowa education system will be greatly discussed on matters of school choice and current methods of funding.
     According to the story, Republicans in the legislature are in support of making Iowa’s education run by a choice method, attaching funds to students who attend schools, rather than the current method of schools themselves. The adjustment’s intention would be to give families a choice through subsidies, that would allow children to attend private schools, or a school different to what they currently enroll into.
     Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, according to the story, is a strong supporter of the change, but advocated worrying about the economic constraints facing the state first.
     With the tight budget looming, funding for public schools is slated to increase by two percent, the seventh time in eight years that funding has increased by that amount or fewer.
     Advocates for a school choice program would ear mark state dollars to go into school choice accounts for parents, meaning school budgets would have to adjust to the amount of students attending school every year, rather than consistent funding.
     Over the last several years, Iowa’s public education system has been part of some of the top systems in the country, boasting both cutting edge education and academic strategies, while combatting consecutively tighter budgets.
     Ahead of the school choice debate, should be the allocation of school dollars for specific purposes. Superintendents across the state have reported accounts that have been maxed out with ear-marked dollars, but no possible way to spend them, due to the constraints on the money.
     Every year, this money gets absorbed back to the state, or remains in the account. The Des Moines Register investigated the dollars, which total over $1 million in usable funds.
     Of course, the rationale behind ear-marked dollars is understandable. Putting parameters on funds ensures that schools adopt state education strategies, which helps with early intervention, special education and ELL. But the state’s allocation and an individual school’s ability to sustain such programs are not in alignment. It is a challenge for a small school to maintain a consistently exceptional special education program with state funds, that are not permanent. Should the state cut funding to a particular ear-marked fund, the school will have to dip into its own pocket. The legislature should first look at what to do with that currently wasted money, which could even be used to offset that two percent increase.
     Iowa’s educational policies should also be given credit where credit is due. The education department’s Operational Sharing Dollars program has helped many districts throughout the state in driving down costs, putting money back into schools, while advocating efficiency in district operation. Schools have expressed much support of sharing dollars and the education department has shown signs of continuing the program.
     But another topic within the legislature dealing with school funding is aimed at removing the measure in which the legislature lets districts know a year in advance what funding will be for education. Republicans have gone on record saying that such estimates of such large sums of money should be given more time to be correct before being issued.
     While budget constraints within the state look to be a hot button issue in 2017, so too will be education, as it depends on those budget adjustments. At a critical juncture in which the education department is changing standardized tests and moving forward with its Report Cards and accountability measures, state funding can not be left unknown. Not to mention funding concerns to enforce the state-required third grade reading proficiency matter, schools will feel the direct adjustment in the budget.
     At a current time when funding is already allocated by enrollment, the Iowa legislature should consider ear-marked dollars and shared contracts as adjustments for schools in 2017.