Keep open mind about new education chief

By The Iowa City Press-Citizen

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Gov.-elect Terry Branstad made one of his most important department head appointments recently with his choice of Jason Glass to be the next director of the Iowa Department of Education (“Branstad names education director,” Dec. 30).

The quality of our state's education system is a proud part of our past and an important part of our present and future as well. We would not go so far as to say “if it isn't broken, don't fix it” when it comes to Iowa's public education system, but we believe Iowa has many aspects of public education headed in the right direction. We've applauded the recent increases in teacher pay, for example, and also Gov. Chet Culver's free preschool program.

On the other hand, we are well aware of some of the challenges facing Iowa's public schools. Those include the achievement gap between more affluent students and lower-income ones.

We don't think we have enough information to judge how Glass, a 39-year-old with experience as a consultant, school administrator and teaching, will perform.

“I believe that with Jason Glass, we've got a reformer, an innovator, but somebody who's also been a consensus-builder,” said Branstad in a Des Moines Register story.

Our take is closer to that of Chris Bern, president of the state's largest teachers union, who said he's keeping an open mind. “It's going to be a different perspective that we're dealing with, but that's not necessarily all bad,” said Bern, of the Iowa State Education Association, in the Register. “I'm willing to listen and work with him.”

One area where we have a stark difference with Branstad is his promise to dial back Culver's free preschool program (“Preschool program may be election victim,” Dec. 27). We believe Branstad's approach could well gut this important program just as it is getting started and just when Iowa needs it most. His approach of partnering with nonprofits and private providers doesn't cut it. We hope that Glass will put the brakes on changes to the preschool program.

And we wish him well in his new role.