Republicans offer compromise on education funding in hopes of breaking legislative impasse

DES MOINES – Legislative Republicans and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today pitched a new compromise aimed at breaking a budget impasse by agreeing to meet part of the Senate Democrats' demands for more state funding for education.

House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, announced that majority House Republicans next week would debate an omnibus measure that would provide a 2 percent increase in per-pupil funding for K-12 schools in fiscal 2013 but would maintain zero “allowable growth” in the upcoming budget year. He said Republicans already have agreed to provide up to $215 million in increased funding in the fiscal year that begins July 1 to “backfill” reserves and property taxes that were needed to supplant previous cuts in state aid.

Legislative Republicans also agreed to keep intact the current state preschool program but would only provide about half of the per-pupil funding – dropping the level from about $3,600 for each participating 4-year-old to about $1,800 per pupil in the fiscal 2012 budget.

“This is what we felt was needed to move forward,” Paulsen told a Statehouse news conference. “I see no reason why this bill wouldn't get consideration in the Senate.”

Shortly after the joint GOP news conference Thursday afternoon, Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued a brief statement calling the latest Republican proposal “a small step.” Democrats hold a 26-24 edge in the Iowa Senate.

“The governor and House Republicans took a small step today toward addressing the concerns of many Iowans by agreeing to a 2 percent increase in basic school funding for the 2012-2013 school year. With $1 billion in the state's savings accounts, Democrats still believe more must be done to avoid a two-year starvation diet for Iowa schools, health care cutbacks for Iowa families, and deep cuts in job creation efforts,” Dvorsky said in his written statement.

Paulsen said today's development was intended to break an impasse that has predicted the split-control Legislature from adjourning its 2011 session.

The House speaker said all the budget issues would be combined in one bill – likely in the range of 600-700 pages – that would be taken up next week. The omnibus package would include a $100 monthly charge for state employees and elected officials for health insurance, which has been passed three previous times by the House but has been rejected by the Senate. That provision would be contingent on unionized state workers agreeing to reopen talks on new two-year contracts slated to take effect next month and accepting that concession.

The House Ways and Means Committee will decide next week whether to attach a property tax reform provision to the omnibus measure and whether to amend a Senate-passed bill addressing the late-term abortion issue with language intended to block a planned clinic in Council Bluffs. House Republicans also have proposed a change that would only allow publicly funded abortions in cases where the mother's life was in danger.

The overall package calls for a two-year state budget, but the second year would only fund about 96 percent of state operations so lawmakers would have to revisit the fiscal 2013 spending plan next session. Paulsen said state general fund spending would be slightly less than $6 billion in fiscal 2012, while the working document for the following year so far commits about $5.84 billion in fiscal 2013 – including the 2 percent boost in K-12 allowable growth funding.

Paulsen said it is time that the GOP-led House, majority Senate Democrats and the governor find the middle ground that will resolve their impasse.

“It's time to stop dinking around,” Paulsen told reporters after a skeleton crew of House members held a brief official meeting today on the 144th calendar day of a 2011 session that was slated to end on April 29. “At some point in time, we've got to do something.”

Legislative Republicans and Reynolds said they plan to embark on a 43-city tour to make their case directly to Iowans why their compromise offer should be approved – averting the potential for a state government shutdown if a fiscal 2012 budget is not in place when the new fiscal year begins July 1.

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