Ivy Schuster, Iowa Senate District 38

The Gazette sent a questionnaire to Iowa Legislature candidates representing Linn, Johnson and surrounding counties. The responses are unedited, unless to correct spelling or punctuation. 

To see other candidates' responses, visit our Election 2020 Candidates page. 

Ivy Schuster faces Republican Dawn Driscoll in the election for Iowa Senate District 38. Click here for Driscoll's responses.

What are the three biggest issues facing the state? How would you address them?

My number one priority is to support public education. Public education is the foundation to our society and, as we have all been reminded over the last six months, is a significant factor in supporting our economy with its role in child care, mental health, and developing our citizens of tomorrow through learning and training.

At the state level, we need to provide strong leadership that others trust across the state and country—developing education policy based on best practices and solid research. In the midst of a public health crisis, educators are being asked to do even more than in the past. They've had to quickly implement new teaching strategies (both online and face to face), integrate social distancing and hygiene strategies, and create individual solutions for families to ensure their children get the education they deserve. I would work to guarantee that our educators have the tools and resources necessary to make them confident and able to support our students' needs.

Iowans enrolled in our Medicaid program continue to struggle with access and quality of care. Hospitals and providers are struggling within the system for payment. Instead of adapting programs that have failed in other states, we need to adopt programs that will help all Iowans. To move forward with the Medicaid program, we need to either revert to the original system, or form a hybrid system with a public option and let Iowans decide on the health care that works for them.

Voting rights is an issue that affects many Iowans, without a lot of us even realizing it. Elections are not fair and representative until everyone who is eligible to vote has unbarred access to voting. I support Governor Reynolds' executive order to restore felon voting rights and will advocate for the amendment process to continue in the legislature to ensure that this re-enfranchisement is permanent and does not become a bargaining chip in future sessions.

Following the 2020 Census, the Iowa Legislature will have to approve redistricting plans. With my history with the League of Women Voters, I'm excited to become a part of this process, which has been lauded as one of the top nonpartisan processes in the nation since the 1980s. In other states, gerrymandering leads to years of unfair elections where the legislators are effectively choosing their voters instead of the other way around. I will ensure that this process remains fair to ensure another barrier is not added for Iowa voters.

The state of Iowa is currently in one of the best financial positions of any state in the nation. We have around a billion dollars in the "rainy day fund". It seems like it's been all rainy days in Iowa since March. I would work to allocate some of these one-time dollars toward supporting the needs of public education, making Medicaid work for Iowans, and ensuring all Iowans who are eligible have barrier-free access to the polls and that every vote counts.

What, if anything, needs to change about the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic?

If our state's leaders are primarily concerned about the economy, I can confidently say that the best way to get our state's economy back on track is not to pretend we aren't in the middle of a pandemic. That will only result in a higher infection rate and more deaths.

What we needed at the start of the pandemic and what we need now is a mask mandate. Wearing a mask, social distancing, and limiting the size of gatherings are consistently recommended by nonpartisan public health experts as the most effective ways to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Wearing a seatbelt in a car is not optional. Wearing a hard hat on a construction site is not optional. Wearing a mask in public during a pandemic shouldn't be optional either.

What do you consider as budget priorities? What would you do to ensure these see funding? Which areas would you target funding reductions?

The most achievable budget priorities I have set for myself are funding Iowa's Water and Land Legacy (IWILL) to improve our water quality, increasing funds available for mental health care, and more fully funding our public schools. IWILL and mental health care funding would come from implementing a one-cent increase in the state sales tax. We would fund public schools by reviewing a process that was implemented in the 1970s. Both of these budget priorities have external funding sources that would not need to be offset in the current state budget.

If we need to bring in more funding to the state, the first step I would recommend would be to sunset agreements that we made with corporations that promised jobs in our state but did not deliver.

What, if any, changes would you make to the way the state funds its K-12 education system?

If elected, I would push for local school boards to be given the power to decide whether to seek increased funding through local property taxes. This funding option, though available in some school districts, has limited others since the 1970s, which has perpetuated disproportionate funding across the state. Previous legislative sessions have tried to narrow this gap, but it is responsible for continued disparities in funding for many of Iowa schools. I would also work to support higher spending per student for all districts so they have the dollars necessary to deliver world-class education. All school districts are experiencing new and unexpected costs due to the pandemic. They were one of the first to benefit from federal CARES funding and need to be considered for continued support.

What should the state do to further address water quality issues? What, if anything, should the state do to increase funding for water quality improvements?

In 2010, Iowans passed a constitutional amendment to create continual funding for Iowa's Water and Land Legacy (IWILL)—which also includes funding for the Nutrient Reduction Strategy—from a portion of a sales tax increase. The first step in improving water quality in Iowa is implementing that sales tax increase and fully funding IWILL.

This funding should go toward cost-sharing programs to further incentivize sustainable practices in soil and water conservation in agriculture, such as buffer strips, cover crops and no-till practices.

What should the state do to address the availability of safe and affordable child care across Iowa?

Implementing a sliding scale for child care aid would help a large number of families whose income puts them on the cusp of the child care cliff. As the program currently exists, there is a maximum income level at which aid is cut off. If the amount of aid given for child care tapered off rather than ending abruptly at a certain level, families wouldn't be penalized for a slight increase in income, for example, from raising the hourly wage, which I support. We also need to raise the reimbursement rate of child care assistance. In Benton county, 45 percent of the child care providers do not accept child care assistance payments because the reimbursement rate, set by the state, does not cover the cost of care. A higher rate would incentivize more providers to accept child care assistance payments and drastically increase the availability of care for people who would otherwise have to go without.

What is your response to recent protests calling for racial justice? What changes to law enforcement policy or budgeting do you support? 

The very least we can do in response to protests calling for racial justice is listen, but we need to move beyond just paying attention and make concrete changes that will decrease future injustices perpetrated against Black, Indigenous, and people of color and redress past injustices. Thanks to the work of the Des Moines chapter of Black Lives Matter, Governor Reynolds signed an executive order to restore voting rights to felons. This is not the first time we've had an executive order restoring felons' voting rights, which is all the evidence needed to show that it's not a viable long-term solution. What we need is a constitutional amendment. But there is more work to do: assisting local communities in funding resources so police aren't responding to situations that would be better resolved by other professionals, increasing access to mental health care services, and reviewing and reducing racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates.

Will you support a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights for felons?

Yes 

Will you approve the governor's IWILL tax relief/mental health plan?

Undecided. I support the plan that Iowans voted on a decade ago to increase the sales tax to fund IWILL. I further support the remainder of this sales tax increase to fund mental health care services. What I do not support are the parts of the governor's plan that would cancel out this increase by reducing the income tax for our state's wealthiest residents.

Will you seek voter approval of a constitutional amendment on abortion (SJR2001/HJR2004)?

No

Will you support a ban hand-held electronic devices while driving (SF2248/HF2375)?

Yes

Will you support allowing financial compensation for college athletes (SF2330/HF2282)?

Yes

Will you support making daylight saving time permanent (SF2077/HF2059)?

Yes

Will you support allowing end-of-life options for patients with terminal conditions (SF2156/HF2302)?

Yes 

Will you support closing loopholes to protect mobile home occupants/tenants (HF2351/SF2238)?

Yes 

Will you support increasing the state minimum hourly wage from $7.25?

Yes. Iowa's minimum wage hasn't changed since 2009, despite major economic shifts and increased cost of living. At the moment, our minimum wage of $7.25 is closer to the poverty wage of $6 than the living wage of $11. I would recommend an immediate increase of the minimum wage to $11, with an increase to at least $15 per hour over the next five years. To prevent us from finding ourselves in this situation in the future, I would also support an annual reexamination and adjustment of the minimum wage.

Will you support raising the state tobacco tax by $1 to $2.36 per pack?

Undecided

Will you support modifying or repealing Iowa's bottle bill law?

Yes. I would support a modification of the bill to include fruit juice and water bottles, but I would not support repealing this bill.

Will you support requiring helmets for minors operating motorcycles/motorized bikes?

Yes

Will you support eliminating criminal penalties for possessing marijuana?

Yes 

Will you support establishing a moratorium on constructing large-scale animal feeding facilities?

Undecided

Will you support creating an 'extreme risk' or 'red flag' firearms protective order?

Undecided