Where's the fat in school funding?

State leaders have played coy for months about how they plan to pay for ambitious education reforms.

For weeks, Gov. Terry Branstad and education leaders have shuffled off the question in countless town hall meetings.

It's too soon to put a price tag on proposals, they say. And when pressed to admit reforms surely will cost something, they wave vaguely toward alleged waste already in the system.

Now, thanks to an intrepid reporter, we know a little more about all those millions that our school districts are just washing down the drain.

Froufrou extras like school infrastructure, teacher training and state-directed property tax relief - talk about a bloated system.

In emails uncovered by statehouse reporter Mike Wiser and outlined in a story in this past Sunday's Gazette, State Department of Education Director Jason Glass targeted five budget areas for skimming as leaders struggled to figure out how to fund pay reforms.

The fact that pay is off the table - for now - doesn't diminish the revelation's importance.

After all, there still are a lot of reforms to pay for. Even if the specifics change, the character of Glass' suggestions shows just how little waste there is in the system.

Glass recommended siphoning money from the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education fund, the statewide penny sales tax collected expressly to help districts pay for school infrastructure expenses.

He advocated appropriating $3.5 million in teacher quality pay and $250 million that's helped boost Iowa's low salary ranking relative to other states.

He discussed stripping $28 million from professional development funds and squeezing another $30 million out of the system by increasing class sizes - numbers that don't bring to mind fat cutting as much as they do a willingness to rob Peter to pay Paul.

His proposed bloodletting of professional development funds is especially galling - a clear indication of reformers' priorities.

As they say in government, budget is policy. You can talk all day long about supporting teachers' growth and training. But if, at the end of the day you don't fund it, all you've got is talk.

And it makes you wonder if we're really talking about reforming education in this state or about simply rearranging the furniture.

The hard truth is that we spend a lot on education because it costs a lot to educate Iowa's kids.

And without a plan that actually reduces those costs, saying reform will be self funding is nothing but a shell game.

Comments: (319) 339-3154; jennifer.hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net