Iowa’s budget outlook for 2016? It’s complicated

DES MOINES - Iowa's top Democratic state lawmakers say the Republican governor's veto of $56 million for public education this past year will make the coming year's budget process more challenging.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and House Minority Leader Mark Smith, speaking at a legislative preview forum hosted by a coalition of central Iowa business, tourism and development organizations, said they were optimistic about the upcoming legislative session and the state budget process despite the challenges they will face, including limited state revenue.

But Gronstal and Smith said Gov. Terry Branstad's school funding veto will make crafting the next state budget more difficult.

'Yes, it does complicate the relationship,” Gronstal said. 'And it will make it tough this session.”

Budget negotiations during the 2015 session were protracted in large part because Republicans and Democrats had a difficult time reaching agreement on funding for K-12 education. Their final compromise was a 1.25 percent increase over the previous year plus a one-time allocation of $56 million to be used by schools for one-time expenditures.

The governor vetoed the $56 million, saying he was not convinced the money would be used for one-time expenses.

At the forum, Gronstal said he contacted Branstad to rebut the governor's statement that his staff had made it clear during negotiations that the governor would veto any one-time allocations for ongoing expenses. Gronstal said he was upset when, despite his insistence, Branstad repeated the claim the next week.

'Folks, that puts us in a bad starting place if the governor - and the governor may have thought his staff made it crystal clear - but when I gave word for word what his staff had said to us ... and he compounded the mistake by repeating it the following Tuesday, it's kind of tough to figure out whether he's just that forgetful or whether he just chose to lie,” Gronstal said.

Branstad spokesman Ben Hammes said in an email that the governor is focused on moving Iowa forward, not on 'D.C.-style partisan politics,” and the administration has increased education funding by 35 percent over the previous, Democratic administration, 'while also bringing stability back to our state budget.”

House Majority Leader Chris Hagenow and Sen. Charles Schneider, the Republican state lawmakers at Thursday's forum, said they hope the Legislature can address school funding early.

'I think that the lingering debate can get in the way of us doing the other jobs that we need to do, and as was said, our school districts would like to have that,” Hagenow said. 'That being said, we have to understand there is a competition for dollars that are available, and we're under tighter revenue numbers.”