Cedar Rapids schools want state funds for at-risk students

DES MOINES - Cedar Rapids school representatives made a pitch for state funds targeted at helping racial minorities and students from low socio-economic backgrounds close the achievement gap.

The funding stream for working with at-risk students is “woefully inadequate,” Cedar Rapids Superintendent Dave Benson told a Senate subcommittee discussing Senate File 63 Feb. 8.

He called closing the achievement gap the “moral imperative of our time.”

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The key, according to Benson and Tammy Wawro, a facilitator in the Cedar Rapids district and vice president of the Iowa State Education Association, is a sustainable funding source.

In education, Benson said, time is a constant and learning is a variable – students learn at different speeds. With the additional funds SF 63 would provide, “we could extend the time and make learning the constant,” Benson said. “”We have high expectations. Some kids just need more time.”

SF 63 would double at-risk funding for school districts (a total of $13 million statewide if all districts qualified) that provide mentoring, up to a total of $13 million if all districts participated. The funds could be used for after-school and summer-school programs, and parent education for at-risk students and the adults in their families.

Cedar Rapids stands to gain about $496,000 if the bill is approved.

The Cedar Rapids school district and teachers' union have been working together on a project funded by the National Education Association called “Closing Achievement Gaps through Community Conversations that Lead to Collective Action.” The bill came out of that process, Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, said.

He called closing the achievement gap essential for Iowa businesses to meat their diversity and workforce needs.

“We've been making progress,” Hogg said. Progress by minorities and low-income students has been greater than other students, “but we still have long way to go.”

Sen. Shawn Hamerlinck, R-Dixon, questioned whether SF 63 was a “real fix or another Band-aid fix.” He also asked about benchmarks for progress.

The bill now goes to the Senate Education Committee.