Iowa school officials worried about state aid levels

DES MOINES - Legislative Democrats said Thursday Iowa school officials are warning they will face larger class sizes, teacher layoffs and other cutbacks that will affect educational quality and offerings negatively even if they receive the 2 percent boost in state aid Gov. Terry Branstad has proposed.

Minority Democrats say K-12 schools have been underfunded for six years and are slipping - especially in rural areas - at a time when expectations are growing for education to be a key driver in producing the skilled workforce needed to bolster Iowa's economic future.

'This is a crucial time. If we don't invest in our kids now, we will pay for it later,” said Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City, in discussing results of a survey of 140 school administrators that found nearly 83 percent favoring a boost in state aid to K-12 schools of 4 percent or higher in fiscal 2018.

The survey of school superintendents found that 71 percent envisioned larger class sizes, 61 percent expected to have to lay off teachers, 58 percent would reduce class offerings and 65 percent expected to delay purchases of up-to-date textbooks and classroom materials if the state aid boost they receive for next school year is 2 percent.

'Part of the problem with the low funding has been our rural districts and all of you know that when a school dies in rural district, that town dies, too, and so we're forcing small districts to make terrible decisions for their communities,” Steckman told a Statehouse news conference.

Her comments came at a time when Republicans - who hold majorities in the House and Senate - are working to identify up to $118 million in spending cuts to erase a projected shortfall for the current budget year before turning to next year's level of state aid to K-12 schools they hope to decide by mid-February.

'We continue to make very good progress,” said House Majority Leader Chris Hagenow, R-Windsor Heights, regarding negotiations with Branstad on the fiscal 2017 de-appropriations bill. 'I think we're very close.”

Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, is optimistic lawmakers could complete work on the current-year spending cuts next week and then turn their attention to the school funding issue. GOP leaders said neither chamber had settled on a school aid funding level yet for fiscal 2018.

Branstad proposed a 2 percent boost for each of the next two fiscal years. Legislative Democrats said Thursday that is not enough and they feared GOP legislators would settle on an even lower funding level.

'Two percent is not adequate and the conversation I'm hearing from legislative Republicans is they're going to be less than that and that's something we're very concerned about. We need Iowans to speak up,” said Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids. 'We are very concerned that this is doing long-term damage.”

Hogg also expressed concerns Branstad and Republicans were looking at 'major midyear cuts” to higher education when the state has options to deal with a shortfall at a time when revenues are strong and reserves are full rather than paring back spending in ways that 'are comparable and in some cases larger that the cuts that the Culver administration made in 2009.”

Dix said the state was put in this position due to Democrats who previously controlled the Senate with 'a never-ending appetite for taxpayers' money” before losing their majority in the 2016 election.

'That's what has really led to the situation that we're in,” Dix said in an interview. 'This is a spending problem, a spending problem that the Democrats really pushed. I don't know why we would want to take their advice when their advice has led us to the problem we are in currently.”

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