Iowa education groups push for at least 4 percent school funding increase

DES MOINES - Representatives of Iowa education groups urged state senators Wednesday to 'hold firm” in pressing for increased funding for K-12 schools the next two years.

Groups representing teachers, school boards, school administrators and others told a Senate panel they would like to see funding for elementary and secondary schools in Iowa's 338 public school districts increase by 6 percent next school year, but they are grudgingly accepting the state budget reality that 4 percent growth in each of the next two fiscal years might be the best they can expect from the split-control Legislature and Gov. Terry Branstad.

'We are concerned that money matters for our school districts,” said Margaret Buckton, a lobbyist for the Rural School Advocates of Iowa and the Urban Education Network of Iowa.

Even 4 percent could be wishful thinking, said Democratic Sen. Tod Bowman, a Maquoketa schoolteacher who led a subcommittee that Wednesday approved 4 percent yearly boosts in K-12 state aid for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. He noted the issue repeatedly has gone to House-Senate conference committees in recent sessions, and likely will again, to resolve differences with House Republicans who passed a 1.25 percent hike for fiscal 2016 and favor 2.45 percent increase for fiscal 2017. However, they don't plan to take up the issue until the end of the current session.

During Wednesday's subcommittee testimony, Tom Narak, lobbyist for School Administrators of Iowa, urged the panel to 'hold firm” for at least 4 percent, while Brad Hudson of the Iowa State Education Association pressed lawmakers to 'try a little harder than 4 percent,” given that they are committing $277 million in tax relief for commercial property owners - including some that live outside of Iowa. 'We think school children are a higher priority than property owners,” Hudson added.

'It comes down to what can the state afford and what can the state not afford,” said Sen. Rita Hart, D-Wheatland, a subcommittee member who echoed Senate Democrats' concerns that per-pupil funding in Iowa is ranked 35th nationally and more than $1,600 below the national average.

'We all struggle with the pressure it takes to balance a budget and to set priorities,” she added. 'Education should be priority No. 1. It represents our future, and there's nothing more important than that. We do have to try harder.”

The bills that now head to the Senate Education Committee on Thursday provide $212 million in increased state appropriations for basic K-12 programs, teacher leadership reforms and property tax replacement in fiscal 2016 and $217.7 million in fiscal 2017. Those levels would raise per-pupils spending to $6,621 in fiscal 2016 and $6,886 in fiscal 2017.

The House-passed bill for fiscal 2016 would boost education funding by about $100 million for the 2015-16 school year.

'It would be my suggestion that the best thing we could do right now is send the 1.25 percent increase down to Gov. Branstad and get that signed and enacted,” said House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha.

'Then, if we need to have another conversation about additional dollars, we'd be happy to have that conversation,” Paulsen added. However, the discussion would include additional education reform measures that would attempt to address imbalances in the current collective bargaining system for teachers, he said.

Sen. Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, voted for two measures that would replace the 12.5 percent yearly property tax allocation to K-12 schools under the foundation aid formula with state money through fiscal 2017, but she did not sign the 4 percent base and categorical funding increases because those funding levels were not sustainable.

Bowman said he was optimistic the split-control Legislature would work together to forge a compromise and he expected the Senate would meet the Feb. 12 deadline to comply with current forward-funding law that requires lawmakers to set K-12 funding through fiscal 2017 within 30 days after receiving the governor's budget proposal.

'We're going to move forward in a fiscally responsible way,” Bowman said. 'We're going to work to see what's in the realm of possibility.”