Former power company CEO looks to close education achievement gap

A former power company executive says several people have urged him to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tom Harkin, but he'd rather talk about education.

Mark Jacobs used to be at the helm of Reliant Energy, but now he's the founder and sole funder of Reaching Higher Iowa, a group whose goal is to “improve public education in Iowa and ultimately make it No. 1 in the country.”

On Wednesday, Reaching Higher held a forum in downtown Des Moines to talk about closing the achievement gap - the documented disparity in test scores between higher and lower income brackets.

The two-hour forum attracted about 60 people to the World Food Prize building in downtown Des Moines, but the five speakers - including Gov. Terry Branstad - didn't get too deep into education policy.

Instead, panelists shared their education experiences or used the forum to push their policy points.

Branstad, for example, spoke about how his efforts with education reform are currently locked in a House/Senate conference committee. Money needs to be coupled with reform language, he said.

“In 1992, 37 percent of the state budget went to K-12 education. Now it's 43 percent, but we've dropped from first to 25th (in national education rankings),” Branstad said. “Iowa was too complacent for too long. We resisted change.”

Another speaker, Minneapolis School Board Chairman Alberto Monserrate, said tying student test scores to teacher evaluations was a key piece of the reform in his district.

“I don't have time for this debate between so-called reformers and unions,” Monserrate said. “We are leading and showing other districts how it can be done.”

Jacobs said he hoped the conference attendees would take away “one specific thing to help close the achievement gap” when the conference concluded. He said he's pushing for more pathways for alternative licensure for teachers.

Jacobs moved back to Iowa in August to begin work on education reform.

In October, campaign disclosure records show he made 25 $1,000 donations to 25 Republican candidates seeking General Assembly spots, most of whom won.

He started Reaching Iowa Higher in January.

“When I moved back to the state of Iowa, it was really around the idea of trying to give back to the state, and I'm really passionate about public education,” he said. “But, honestly, if you would have told me a year ago that I would have started an organization to improve education in the state, I would have been surprised. As to what the future holds, who knows?”

He added he hasn't given himself a deadline to make his Senate decision.