CRCSD board advocates at the Statehouse

This past week was a busy time at the state Capitol, as it was "funnel week." Amid the flurry of activities, the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s Board was able to visit the Capitol and meet with our Linn County legislators. As the legislature discussed three education bills in subcommittee, CRCSD board members provided testimony that explained how these bills would impact our district.

Hearing from school districts and constituents is vital for lawmakers, as it helps them make informed decisions about education policies. With school funding for the upcoming year at a critical juncture and budget deadlines nearing, it is especially important. We are hoping for swift decisions on both State Supplemental Aid (SSA) and teacher pay legislation to proceed with certainty.

During our conversations with legislators, we emphasized the critical needs of our district. We discussed the need for full funding for four-year preschool, an increase in supplemental school aid in the 4-5% range to keep up with inflation and adequately compensate our staff, more local control in decision-making and additional weighted funding for programs such as special education, English language learners, and at-risk students.

We are grateful for the State's funding for half-day preschool programs, but with over 240 students in our full-day program, we would like to draw your attention to the importance of early childhood education. We believe in providing quality education to our young learners and would respectfully request the state to consider fully funding full-day preschool programs to enable us to continue offering quality education to our young learners.

Our school relies on State Supplemental Aid to pay all staff members. However, we face challenges in meeting the cost-of-living raises for our teachers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, and all our work groups due to inadequate funding. We encourage our legislators to increase State Supplemental Aid to ensure that our staff members can make ends meet.

We recognize 55% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch and require additional resources to receive quality education. We would ask our state Legislature to provide more resources to schools like ours with higher poverty rates through weighted funding. We believe that this measure will help us provide quality education to our underprivileged students.

Our board members had an excellent opportunity to observe firsthand how legislation is crafted and how they can provide input to the process. It was a productive and informative week that allowed us to engage with legislators and emphasize the needs of our community. The CRCSD Board encourages all citizens to reach out to their legislators to advocate for public education.

Cindy Garlock serves as president of the Cedar Rapids Community School District Board of Directors. The Iowa Legislature is considering a number of bills that will impact our district and our students. Advocacy is critical.