Ragan Report

Budget cuts will hurt Iowa education, economic growth and the vulnerable
     Senate File 130 cuts more than $26 million from education, undermining the goal of creating an economy that helps all Iowans. Cutting $3 million from community colleges and $18 million from public universities takes Iowa in the wrong direction. These mid-year budget cuts threaten education, job training, and ultimately Iowa’s economy
     When 68 percent of all Iowa jobs will soon require education and training beyond high school, these cuts to our community colleges and state universities are the worst thing we could do to deal with the number one problem facing Iowa’s businesses: the critical shortage of skilled and qualified workers.
     Tax breaks for corporations now top $500 million annually. This put-all-the-eggs-in-one basket approach has slowed the state’s economy and has stressed the budget. The unfortunate result is Iowa students and working families are impacted negatively.
     Senate File 130 cuts help for the most vulnerable Iowans - abused kids, the elderly and others in need.  These cuts will further reduce access to quality health care, mental health care and other critical services, at a time when the safety net for those Iowans that need it most is already in trouble. Cutting these programs have led to:
     • The death of vulnerable Iowans.
     • The closure of two Mental Health Institutes, which has reduced access to mental health services.
     • Privatizing Medicaid, which has thrown the health care of hundreds of thousands of Iowans into chaos and threatened the financial wellbeing of health care providers.
     Bill Dickey, a retired social worker and investigator who worked for the Iowa Department of Human Services for 34 years, delivered that message to legislators. He was at the Statehouse on Jan. 25 to oppose permanent cuts to Iowa’s human services budget. He says the cuts will put children and adults who need our help in danger.
     Mr. Dickey said during his career, he saw the results of budget cuts that forced caseworkers to take on much bigger workloads than they could handle. Iowa ended up with several tragedies that got a lot of media attention, such as the Shelby Duis case. Fortunately, at that time, Governor Vilsack provided the money to reduce caseloads. This allowed caseworkers to spend the necessary time and attention on each case so they could do what was best for Iowans in bad situations.
     Caseloads are already on the rise, which benefits no one.
     Sen. Amanda Ragan (D-Mason City) serves Franklin, Butler and Cerro Gordo counties in Senate District 27.