Iowa school funding debate: You get what you pay for

I am new to Iowa. I came here because of what I had heard and what I knew. I had heard about the quality of life and that Iowa was a great place to raise a family.

Coming from North Carolina public schools, I knew one thing was true: Iowa was a state that valued education. That was something I could not say was true in North Carolina. When I left North Carolina in 2013, we had been under a salary freeze for four years (it went on for a fifth year after I left) while overall spending on education had been slashed year after year. Even as the economy improved, the North Carolina legislature placed other spending priorities above education.

What's the impact? North Carolina managed to drop from the middle of the pack when it comes to state spending on education to dead last in six short years. Quality teachers fled the state or the profession in droves. In 2013 alone Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' turnover rate hit a 10-year high with over 15 percent of teachers leaving the district. By 2014, there were over 50 schools in that single school district that had new principals when the school year started.

In the end, it is students who suffer. High school class sizes ballooned to an average near 35. Course offerings were cut. All athletic programs at the middle school level were slashed. North Carolina today is ranked at the bottom of nearly every metric for public education.

I write all of this because here in Iowa, where education has been a historical priority, we are seeing something worrisome. The governor is in favor of an inadequate 1.25 percent allowable growth. His reasons lie in his priorities and I respect that. But we need to ask: Which direction do we want Iowa to go?

Not keeping allowable growth at or slightly above inflation will set Iowa on the path to North Carolina. We will see class sizes boom and programs cut. Here in Cedar Rapids this has been the trend over the last three years.

I think, like all school systems, we have done as much as we can with less. We have maintained an excellent program of studies even as resources become more scarce. But we are reaching a spill over point: we will not be able to offer specialized classes, such as vocational education courses or challenging Advanced Placement courses, in the quantity that we currently do.

Ultimately, my fear is an Iowa that is leaning toward North Carolina. That is the wrong direction. Choosing to place education spending at the bottom of the priority list sends a signal that is not in line with what has made Iowa such a great place to live.

I urge the governor and the legislature to move Iowa back to the head of the class and resist the temptation to emulate the state that is ranked as the worst for public education.

' Jason Kline is principal of John F. Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids. Comments: jkline@cr.k12.ia.us

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