Deja vu? School funding debate could repeat in 2016

DES MOINES - Any educators and parents of Iowa schoolchildren who got heartburn from the school funding debate that congested the recently concluded legislative session should keep a bottle of antacid nearby next year.

Early indications suggest it's going to happen all over again in 2016.

'I don't see any evidence that next year is going to go any easier, that the process is going to go any more quickly than this year,” said Jane Lindaman, superintendent of Waterloo schools. 'That is very worrisome to Iowa educators.”

State lawmakers spent roughly four months this session arguing over how much state money should be sent to public kindergarten-through-grade-12 schools for the 2015-2016 school year. The debate was conducted almost daily and often was heated.

By the time lawmakers reached a compromise agreement, they were more than 16 months past the legal deadline, and school districts were uncomfortably deep into their own budgeting process. Many had to issue temporary pink slips to staff.

Schools also were nearly unanimous in their displeasure with the funding level - a 1.25 percent increase over the previous year plus a $55.7 million one-time cash infusion

In other words, school officials say districts were forced to play a difficult waiting game, and the payoff was not worth the wait.

Lawmakers also failed to set school funding for the 2016-2017 school year as required by state law. So they will return to the Capitol next year and start over, under the same legislative leadership and same political party control.

Lawmakers were $84 million apart on school funding in February this year, and it took them until June 1 to close that gap.

Barring an unexpected spike in state tax revenue, the two sides could start the 2016 session in January in the ballpark of $100 million apart on their initial school funding proposals.

But a repeat of this year's prickly debate seems inevitable.

'I certainly hope that it doesn't drag out the way it did this year, but I'm not sure I have any factual basis for that hope,” said Herman Quirmbach, a state senator from Ames and a professor at Iowa State University.

Democrats agree with Republican Gov. Terry Branstad that the state should set school funding a year in advance. They concur school funding should be set before the remainder of the budgetary process to ensure it remains the top priority of the state and does not become entangled in messy budget negotiations.

House Republicans balk at the law, which was signed by Branstad during his first run as governor but contains no punishment for failure to adhere. They say committing that much state money - nearly $3 billion from the general fund in fiscal year 2016 - before having a better picture of state revenues is a dangerous budgetary practice.

Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said House Republicans will continue to adhere to their budget principles of using only the previous year's revenue to fund annual expenses such as education. That means an increase in school funding next year would have to come out of any increase in state revenue.

House Republicans have been unwilling to use unspent funds from the previous year on annual expenses. Democrats have said the state should use some of that unspent money to help increase state funding to schools.

'I am concerned that the same philosophical positions will impede appropriate funding for education,” said Dr. David Benson, who will retire as superintendent of the Cedar Rapids School District at the end of this month. 'Rather than thinking about the future of the state in terms of investing in its children, we're going to get this argument about taxes and spending and, quote, giving money back to the taxpayers, unquote, instead of making strategic investments.”

The possibility remains that Branstad will veto the $55.7 million dedicated for the 2015-2016 school year. If he does, Democrats will be even further incensed about a deal they grimaced at while accepting.

Branstad has roughly a month to decide on which elements of the budget to approve.