Culver signs education budget bill

DES MOINES – It's official -- the Iowa Association of School Boards soon will be subject to the state's laws pertaining to open meetings and open records.

The provision covering the nonprofit group that has come under scrutiny for excessive salary raises for its former top official and others alleged abuses was contained in a fiscal 2011 education budget bill that Gov. Chet Culver signed into law today at a ceremony attended by social studies students in the Ottumwa High School auditorium.

Senate File 2376 also requires school boards to annually report to their local communities and the state Department of Education the amount of membership dues and fees paid to the IASB and other local, regional and national organizations. It also requires reporting of revenue and dividend payments received locally from such organizations or affiliated for-profit entities, as well as the products and services received as part of membership.

Thursday's bill signing by Culver marked the first formal action on the fiscal 2011 state budget that lawmakers delivered to the governor last month. The $844.4 million appropriations measure will provide funds for the state Department of Education, community colleges, private colleges, regents' universities and the Iowa Student Aid Commission beginning next July 1.

Culver said the education funding bill, along with a $2.4 billion state aid commitment for K-12 schools that he plans to sign soon, represent “a real boost for some of our schools that are already cash-strapped with depleted reserves.

“We are keeping our promise to hard-working Iowans by making the needed investments in education for our young people,” he said. “By providing our kids a high-quality education, we will ensure they have the skills they need to get a good job and have a successful future. This funding will help us maintain our tradition of educational excellence.”

However, Matt Strawn, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, accused Culver of breaking a promise to balance the state budget without raising taxes by underfunding the state share of K-12 costs – shifting the burden to local property taxpayers to make up the difference. The GOP leader said he hopes Iowa voters will hold Culver and majority Democrats in the Legislature accountable in November.

“Gov. Culver is offering nothing but lip service to the future generation of Iowans,” Strawn said in a statement. “He calls education a priority, but then burdens property taxpayers with the cost. He talks about moving Iowa forward, but then saddles our children with generational debt. As a parent, I'll be voting in the best interest of my kids, and that means voting Culver out of office in November.”

The bill Culver signed into law Thursday will appropriate $221.7 million to the University of Iowa, $173.7 million to Iowa State University, $79 million to the University of Northern Iowa, and about $160 million to the state's 15 community colleges. It also includes $16.1 million to cover the fourth and final yearly commitment to expanding early-childhood education opportunities statewide.

Senate File 2376 also specified that special funding for increased teacher salaries, professional development and class-size reduction initiatives will not be subject to across-the-board state spending cuts in the future. However, local school districts were given the option by legislators during the current fiscal 2010 budget year to apply the 10 percent reduction Culver ordered last October to those three funding areas since some districts already had made program cuts.

In other action this week, Culver signed into law legislation that would establish a debt coordinator whose job would be to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars from scofflaws owing unpaid court fines, back taxes or other delinquent payments. Senate File 2383 would set up a coordinated debt collection effort that would include the creation of separate debt settlement and debt amnesty programs to encourage people to pay at least a share of the money they owe the state.

As a starting point, the new law provides for a state debt coordinator who is hired by the governor and confirmed by the Senate for a four-year term. The person must have expert knowledge in the field of debt collection and understand the workings of state government.

According to judicial branch officials, outstanding debt owed to the state's court system for items such as unpaid criminal judgments, civil fines or past-due parking tickets grew from $143.4 million in 1998 to more than $521.4 million near the end of 2009 -- with a large share being old, uncollected debt. The largest category was past-due debt in criminal cases, which totaled $373.9 million, followed by $122.6 million in unpaid traffic fines.

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