2 percent? A little more? Iowa lawmakers weigh proposals for K-12 school funding increase

DES MOINES — Iowa’s K-12 schools will get a general state funding increase of roughly 2 percent — the exact figure is being negotiated by lawmakers — in the next school year.

State lawmakers spent this week putting their K-12 school funding proposals through the legislative process, and by the end of the week majority Republicans in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature had approved their respective pitches.

Senate Republicans early in the week approved a 2 percent increase in general state funding for the 2025-2026 school year, which matches Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal. But House Republicans on Thursday approved a 2.25 general state funding increase, plus another $22.6 million in general aid to assist schools with inflationary costs.

Leaders from the chambers will need to negotiate an agreement that they can pass and send to Reynolds’ desk for her approval.

The respective proposals are just $18 million apart in $3.9 billion-plus K-12 education budgets.

As is typical of the annual public school funding debate in the Iowa Legislature, Democrats — who are in the minority in both chambers — said both funding proposals are woefully inadequate. They proposed a 5 percent increase in general state funding.

Republicans said their proposals represent what is sustainable within the state’s total general fund budget, which is just more than $9 billion.

A 2 percent increase in general K-12 state funding would be the lowest since 2019; a 2.25 percent increase would be the lowest since 2020.

From 1973, when the current public school funding formula was created, until 2010, general state funding to K-12 public schools increased by an annual average of 5 percent. Since Republicans regained at least partial control of the state lawmaking process in 2011, that annual increase has averaged 2 percent.

“We are proposing 2 percent because we know it is sustainable within our whole budget,” Sen. Lynn Evans, a Republican from Aurelia who is a former public school administrator, said during Senate debate on the proposal. “(Democrats’ proposed 5 percent increase) is not sustainable and it puts us in a position where we cannot keep our promises. … (The proposal) reflects the reckless spending priorities of the minority party.”

Rep. Tracy Ehlert, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids and an early childhood educator, called for “a bold investment” in Iowa students’ futures.

“Iowa students are facing some of the greatest challenges in decades: academic setbacks, declining engagement, mental health struggles,” Ehlert said during House debate on the proposal. “A 5 percent increase would provide the school district in my area with funding to allow them to restore critical student services, attract and retain high quality staff and provide students with the education that they deserve.”

Competing Republican proposals

Roughly $3.94 billion in state general funding would be appropriated to K-12 public schools under Senate Republicans’ proposal, Senate File 167. That would be an increase of roughly $149 million, according to the Iowa Legislative Services, the state’s nonpartisan fiscal and legal agency.

Under Senate Republicans’ proposal, 159 of the state’s 325 school districts would be eligible for a budget guarantee meant to protect districts that have a low property tax base. That provision guarantees school districts that they receive at least 101 percent of their previous year’s funding.

Roughly $3.95 billion in state general funding would be appropriated to K-12 public schools under House Republicans’ proposal, House File 319. That would be an increase of roughly $167 million, according to the Legislative Services Agency.

Under House Republicans’ proposal, 146 of the state’s 325 school districts would be eligible for the budget guarantee.

A week’s worth of debate

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House Republicans held the first legislative hearing on their proposal on Monday. Democrats requested a public hearing on the proposal, which was held Thursday morning. Only two people spoke in-person at the hearing. But nearly 1,000 comments had been submitted online as of Thursday afternoon: 933 people wrote in opposition to the proposal, while 28 wrote in favor of it.

The House debated the proposal Thursday afternoon; the bill passed on a 58-35 vote with only Republicans supporting it and five Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against it.

During the first legislative hearing on House Republicans’ proposal, most education groups said they prefer the House larger version over the Senate’s. But many said both proposals are insufficient.

General K-12 state funding “is not at a level that we think has been adequate,” Dave Daughton, a lobbyist for the School Administrators of Iowa, said during the legislative hearing. “But (the House Republican proposal) is the best one on the table. That’s why we’re supporting it.”

Having run the bill through subcommittee and committee earlier in the session, the Iowa Senate debated and passed its bill Tuesday. Senate Republicans’ proposal passed on a 29-18 vote with only Republicans supporting it and three Republicans — including Sen. Charlie McClintock, of Alburnett — joining all Democrats in voting against it.

During Senate debate, Sen. Mike Zimmer, a Democrat from DeWitt and former public schoolteacher, administrator and school board member who won a special election and was seated in the Senate this week, warned Republicans that the low general funding proposal means some school districts will have to raise local property taxes at a time when Statehouse Republicans are trying to lower Iowa homeowners’ property taxes.

“What we are doing right now is when we are failing to address the state’s side of that school funding formula; we are relying on the property side of that school funding formula. That is exactly the wrong way that this funding formula was created, and it’s the wrong way that we’re going,” Zimmer said.

The next step for Republican leaders is to reach an agreement between the House and Senate and sent to Reynolds for her signature.

“We’ll sit down with my list and (the House’s) list and the Senate’s list, and then we’ll figure out what that looks like and what we can get through the two chambers, to my desk,” Reynolds said Monday during a news conference.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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