Students lobby for boost in state aid in Des Moines

DES MOINES - Students from a school where all staff members will get pink slips because of uncertainty about school funding took a school-approved field trip to the Capitol on Wednesday to lobby for a 4 percent increase in supplemental school aid.

Gov. Terry Branstad and House Republicans have proposed raising the state's $2.9 billion funding for K-12 education by 1.25 percent or $105 million. Senate majority Democrats, who initially proposed a 4 percent increase, are offering a 2.625 percent, which would be $56 million more than the GOP plan.

The Southeast Warren delegation, which demonstrated outside the Capitol and in the Statehouse rotunda, wanted a 4 percent increase, said Angela Carlson of Ackworth, one of the adults who accompanied the students from Southeast Warren schools.

Faced with the prospect of making staff cuts, the Southeast Warren school board plans to send layoff notices to all 100 staff members.

Wednesday was the deadline for districts to certify their budgets.

'None have received them yet, (but) all of them will” as part of a worst-case scenario budget put together by district leaders, according to Superintendent Dean Galvin.

'That's pretty drastic. We're a bare-bones school already,” Carlson said. The proposed cuts would eliminate a band teacher as well as all or part of art, library, and technical support positions.

The pink slips are 'horrible news,” according to Senate Education Committee Chairman Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames.

'Simply put, the Republican refusal will result in more overcrowded classrooms, fewer course offerings, and reduced educational opportunities across Iowa,” Quirmbach, said.

'Legislative Republicans keep insisting that gridlock is better than compromise, to the detriment of Iowa schoolchildren, teachers, and parents,” Quirmbach said.

However, Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, defended her party's position in a back-and-forth with House Minority Leader Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown, Wednesday morning.

The 1.25 percent increase 'is what fit in the budget. That is what we sent forward, and we stick to that,” she said.