Branstad: Iowa lawmakers’ school aid compromise a ‘reasonable decision’

DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad said Wednesday he expects to sign two bills to increase state aid for K-12 schools by 2.25 percent next fiscal year, even though the funding is less than he requested, but reflects a budget outlook made tighter by revenue slippage.

Members of the split-control Legislature ended a stalemate that began last session by agreeing to boost per-pupil spending for elementary and secondary schools by $145, to $6,591, for the 2016-17 school year. Overall, the package negotiated in conference committee would boost funding for schools by more than $153.8 million with a nearly $100 million boost for base budgets and $53 million to fund the third year of a teacher leadership and compensation program.

The Iowa Senate voted 44-6 to approve the 2.25 percent increase in state aid in Senate File 174 and 46-4 to pass a companion measure dealing with 'categorical” funding for teacher pay, professional development and class-size reduction initiatives in Senate File 175.

The Iowa House was slated to take up the two school funding bills on Wednesday afternoon, with the expectation of sending them to the governor.

'I think it's a responsible decision,” said Branstad. 'I know people would have liked to have done more, but I think this is what we can afford to do at this point in time.”

Branstad offered a budget plan that called for a 2.45 percent boost in state aid for K-12 school districts in fiscal 2017. Legislative Democrats supported a 4 percent increase supported by the Senate, while the GOP-led House favored a 2 percent boost.

Negotiators agreed to dedicate most of the $176 million in increased revenue available in their $7.351 billion budget target to K-12 education after approving a tax-policy measure that shaved their ending balance by $98 million and revenue estimators scaled back tax collection projects by $46 million.

Sen. Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, told his colleagues the school funding outcome 'isn't what everybody wants,” but he said it was a 'grand compromise” that would help schools make critical spending decisions before they're required to certify their budgets by April 15.

Bowman expressed concern several years of below-average state aid for schools has made them 'as lean as possible” and is forcing some administrators to sacrifice programs and impact student opportunities. 'We cannot afford to go backwards,” he said.

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, called the compromise a 'self-inflicted wound” in a budget that could support a 4 percent increase. Negotiations between Senate Democrats and House Republicans produced an outcome that was 'simply inadequate” and 'shortchanging the next generation,” but he reluctantly was 'going to hold my nose” and vote for it. Four Republicans and two Democrats opposed S.F. 174, and four GOP senators voted no on S.F. 175.

Sen. Julian Garrett, R-Indianola, also voted for the two school funding bills as 'a reasonable compromise,” but he expressed concern that the state's surplus ending balance was slipping away and could portend problems in future years.

'There are red flags that I see waving out there,” Garrett warned.

Branstad said the bipartisan agreement would mean public schools would get a 'vast majority of the new money” in fiscal 2017, which means that 'other areas of the budget are going to be very tightly squeezed, but I think this is the best we can do.”