The ‘idiot lights’ are flashing in Iowa public schools

It happens to almost everyone. While cruising down the highway, a dashboard light flashes on. Unless it’s happened before, the light is a mystery. You can ignore it and pray to the car gods your engine doesn’t die, or you can pull over, look for the car manual, and find what it means.

My dad called these dashboard warnings, “idiot lights.” I can still hear him say, “You’re an idiot if don’t stop and check what’s wrong.”

Once that light flashes you’ll feel your wallet thinning as you curse the car, forgetting you’re responsible for preventive maintenance.

Well, the Iowa public school, “idiot lights” are flashing and the consequences are worse than a thinning wallet. Iowa’s public schools are beginning to crumble from neglect. It’s time to pull over to discover the problems.

Chronic underfunding.

Republicans love to shout about inflation, but develop selective amnesia, when it’s time to determine school funding.

Sen. Herman Quirmbach is the ranking member of the Iowa Senate Education Committee and a retired economics professor at Iowa State University.

He examined public-school funding in Iowa from fiscal years 2017 to 2024 comparing what school funding would have been if the Republican-controlled Legislature had adjusted the cost per pupil for inflation versus the actual cost per pupil the Legislature allocated.

During those seven years, the per pupil amount fell further and further behind inflation. In the 2023-24 school year, schools were shorted $899 per regular education student. For that school year alone, it was a total cut in school funding of $528 million.

During this session, the legislature allocated 2.5% more per pupil State Supplemental Aid for public schools, and that will likely cause the cost per pupil to fall further behind the rate of inflation.

What are some of the consequences of underfunding? Schools have been forced to lay off teachers in the middle of a teacher shortage. Iowa dropped four places in the latest Kids Count Report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. For the first time since data has been published, Iowa is no longer number one in graduation rates.

Orient-Macksburg School District in Southwest Iowa is another casualty. Recently, its board of directors voted to dissolve the district.

Some may shrug and say Orient-Macksburg was just too weak to survive. But that’s little comfort to students, parents, and to a community losing its identity.

It’s an “idiot light” for other rural communities signaling them to pull over and challenge Iowa leaders.

A two-tier public system is unsustainable.

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ private school voucher entitlement in 2023 was estimated to cost Iowa taxpayers $107 million for an estimated 14,068 students in the first year and $132 million in its second year. But the first-year cost $128 million with 29,025 students applying. That’s an overrun of $21 million and the voucher plan is not fully implemented. We also now know about two-thirds of vouchers were used by parents whose children were already attending private school.

Iowa taxpayers are supporting a two tiered publicly funded education system, separate and unequal. It’s unequal because the public system accepts all students and the private schools publicly funded don’t. Through yearly audits, there’s accountability for how taxpayer funds are spent by public schools and no required audits for public money for private schools.

The voucher plan has triggered a flashing “idiot light” because there’s no way the state can adequately maintain a two-tiered publicly funded school system. The fiscal engine will seize up.

If Iowa doesn’t pull over to check out the multiple public school “idiot lights” flashing, the future of our kids will be at risk.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City, taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years until retiring. BruceLear2419@gmail.com