Legislative Democrats, education lobbyists call GOP’s school aid proposal ‘woefully inadequate’

DES MOINES - Legislative Democrats and education lobbyists met Republicans' proposal to increase state aid for K-12 public schools by $40 million - a 1.11 percent bump - with disappointment and outrage Monday at the state capitol.

In addition to what they called an inadequate funding level, Democrats in the Senate Education Committee railed against Republicans and said they were not told of the substance of the bill until only hours before a scheduled vote. That prevented them from consulting with constituents about its possible repercussions, Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said.

'I'm supposed to work with a bill with no input on what the effect will be,” Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, said. 'What is the impact on rural schools? Is it going to mean consolidation? Is it going to mean closing? Is it going to mean more bussing?

'There are a lot of unanswered questions.”

Republican legislators said their proposed 1.11 percent increase to K-12 education funding - which would raise the state's per-pupil funding to $6,664 - is in line with the state's available revenue.

Funding for K-12 is approaching $3.2 billion.

Republican legislators have calculated they have about $200 million in new state revenue to spend in the fiscal 2018 budget, said Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, chairman of the House Education Committee. Education and Medicaid are at the top of the list of priorities, along with public safety and corrections.

'We just felt that $40 million of the new revenue was the appropriate amount of money that we could in good conscience give to K-12 education,” he said. 'We are also looking at many ways to relieve pressure with district budgets by looking at inequities in district cost per pupil and flexibility of spending.”

Education lobbyists told members of the House Education Committee the small increase could force cuts at school districts across the state.

'We know that there are many, many issues that we need to work on and we appreciate that, but we also know that growth in funding for schools the last few years has been extremely low,” said Tom Narak of the School Administrators of Iowa. 'And schools are getting into a crisis area.”

In Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, district superintendents said a 1.11 percent increase would lead to significant cuts.

In Iowa City, the cuts would equal about $1 million. There would be about $1.5 million in cuts to Cedar Rapids schools.

'That is bad news for the district,” Iowa City Superintendent Stephen Murley said in an email. '…

It will certainly mean that we have to look across the board at everything from staffing to programming.”

Because the majority of school districts' costs are in staffing, Cedar Rapids Community School Superintendent Brad Buck said the proposed funding level would mean a reduction in district personnel.

'To provide context,” Buck said in an email, 'we are pushing $20 million dollars in reductions over the last six years as our costs have exceeded our increases in revenue.”

Rep. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, called the GOP's proposed increase 'woefully inadequate,” given that state tax collections are projected to grow by 4.2 percent in the coming fiscal year and Republicans were proposing to boost state aid by $73 per pupil.

She said more than half of Iowa's school districts have declining enrollment, which means property taxpayers will have to pitch in $23.64 million to make up for the lack of state supplemental aid.

'I would like to think that we could do better than this,” she said.

Gov. Terry Branstad - who recommended a two percent increase in K-12 state aid for each of the next two fiscal years - conceded his fellow Republicans were offering less than the $78.8 million he sought for fiscal 2018 and $63.5 million for the following year. But he applauded their willingness to decide the funding issue within the session's first 30 days.

He also noted that K-12 schools were not being asked to take any cut in the current fiscal year due to lower-than-projected tax collections that are forcing nearly $118 million in adjustments by June 30.

But Winckler pointed out that Republican legislators were not abiding by state law that required the fiscal 2018 funding level for K-12 schools to be established last session and the fiscal 2019 aid total to be set this February.

Rep. Rogers said legislators may look at the fiscal 2019 school aid funding issue once they get the March state revenue estimate.

'This number on education is something we felt comfortable with and good about as far as overall increases in spending all across the board,” Rogers said. 'We'll continue to work for the most fiscally conservative route that we possibly can go looking at the new dollars that are available.”

Monday ended on a contentious note, when members of the Senate Education Committee clashed over a GOP effort to close debate at 9 p.m. before voting 9-6 along party lines to approve the school funding measure with the 1.11 percent increase and send it to the Senate debate calendar.

The committee meeting had been delayed for more than five hours awaiting a Democratic amendment that never was introduced. Committee chairwoman, Sen. Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, defended the process over objections by Democrats that the process was a 'sham” and shouts of 'shame” from Iowans who attended the unruly evening meeting that ended at 9:18 p.m.

During a brief public comment period, Megan Christofferson, a Johnston mother of eight, said there were 'armies” of parents like herself 'begging” for the Legislature to adequately fund schools.

'They can't keep doing more for less,” she said. 'It's impossible.”

About at the same time across the Capitol rotunda, Republicans in the House Appropriations Committee passed the school aid measure on a 14-9 party-line vote with expectations the bill could be debated by both chambers yet this week.

l Comments: (319) 398-8330, molly.duffy@thegazette.com; (515) 243-7220, rod.boshart@thegazette.com