Underfunding Iowa’s schools will have catastrophic, long lasting effects

Gov. Terry Branstad and the House are using the school calendar start date issue as a smoke screen to slide through a funding proposal that fails to provide 80 percent of Iowa's schools with adequate funding to pay the bills.

What is more important, the day we start school or providing enough money to educate our students? Adding $50 million in teacher leadership funding to the amount the state pays for schools is deceiving. This money does not help schools pay for teachers, programs or curriculum supplies.

The Republican leadership continues its attempt to make the citizens of Iowa believe the state cannot afford to increase supplemental school aid by at least 4 percent. I disagree because we have seen growth in our state's economy, and our cash reserves have been nearly full for the past four years - approximately $700 million. The continued failure to provide adequate supplemental aid to schools will not only impact the educational system but also will have a negative impact on the state's economy.

The educational impact will be fewer teachers, counselors and associates working with our children, eliminating educational programs, eliminating fine arts and other activity programs, delaying curriculum and technology purchases.

The end result will be a higher dropout rate, an increase in bullying, higher absenteeism, a decline in student achievement and assessment scores, and increased class sizes.

The erosion of our state's public education system will negatively impact our economy. Businesses with high-wage, high-skilled jobs looking for well educated employees will not come to Iowa. Due to an increased high school dropout rate Iowa will have to invest more money into unemployment and welfare programs. How will the state pay for these programs, by raising taxes. Underfunding supplemental aid to schools will have a long-lasting negative impact on the citizens of Iowa.

' Bob Cue is Superintendent of North Tama Schools. Comments: bcue@n-tama.k12.ia.us