A perfect storm is aimed at public schools

It’s 90 before 9 a.m. Not a whiff stirs Old Glory. Bicycle tires stick to steaming asphalt. But two towns north, thunder begins to rumble.

It’s a pop-up storm full of sound and a little fury, not lasting long.

But there’s a political storm now threatening Iowa public schools, and It’s long-lasting, destructive, and man-made.

There are three storm fronts taking aim.

Without warning, a month before school starts, the Trump administration froze $6.8 billion in federal funds allocated to public schools by Congress four months ago. This will kill programs needed for he most vulnerable students. Low-income kids will be affected, along with some special education students and English as a second language learners.

Most funding for Iowa public schools comes from a mixture of property taxes and state aid. The Legislature increased funding by 2% this fall, which is just $162 per student. Districts are making painful budget decisions.

The second storm is fueled by the dismantling of Area Education Agencies (AEAs) during the 2024 legislative session. Although educators haven’t felt the full impact, many will see services harder to find and more costly especially in rural Iowa.

Instead of allocating funding to AEAs, school districts will receive the funding and will pay for selected services from the AEA or another entity. For special education, 90% will still be allocated to the AEAs, and 10% will be provided to the school districts.

It’s a mystery why Gov. Kim Reynolds wanted this. She didn’t apply the savings to any pet program, and she didn’t listen to stakeholders. I think she believes private is always better than public.

I represented the professional and support staff at Northwest AEA for 27 years. For the 2024-25 school year, it had a professional staff of approximately 189 covering 34 school districts in 10 counties. With layoffs and voluntary resignations caused by legislative changes, it now has approximately 50 fewer professional staff covering the same area. School superintendents should be sounding storm sirens.

The third storm front is Iowa’s expensive, unregulated private school voucher plan. For the coming school year, there are no income restrictions for qualifying for a $7,988 voucher toward tuition at a private school. So far 43,784 have been approved at a cost of $349 million. An additional 1,544 are waiting for approval.

Iowa has a two-tiered education system separate and unequal. Private schools may reject students based on criteria even if they have the voucher in hand. Public schools accept all students. Private schools are not audited. Public schools are.

But the storm intensifies. The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” has a provision starting in 2027 providing a federal tax credit of $1,700 for those who donate to private and religious school scholarships. There’s no cap to the cost. There’s little doubt Iowa will opt in.

Sirens should be blaring. We can’t let public schools be blown away.

Bruce Lear taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years until he retired. BruceLear2419@gmail.com