Democrats propose compromise on Iowa education reform

DES MOINES - Teacher evaluations have emerged as one of key divisions between Republican and Democratic lawmakers looking to make a deal on education reform.

Thursday saw a flurry of activity by members of the House-Senate conference committee with two proposals being offered - one from Democrats to Republicans in the morning and one going the other way in the afternoon.

It was a marked difference from the last week-and-a-half when the 10-member committee, made up of five Democrats and five Republicans, seemed deadlocked because of both policy and personality differences.

As it stands now, both sides have accepted a state funding formula that allows for 2 percent allowable growth, plus a 2 percent one-time increase in funding for fiscal year 2014 and 4 percent allowable growth for 2015.

But they diverge on how best to create new teacher career pathways that Gov. Terry Branstad has called the centerpiece of the reform effort. There's also sharp division on what Republicans are calling the “accountability” measures in the plan: namely, how frequently and with what criteria the state's 34,000 teachers are evaluated as well as who gets to evaluate them.

“The accountability piece of the whole plan is very important to us, and so any reform initiative in my opinion must have an evaluation,” said State Rep. Ron Jorgensen, R-Sioux City, a co-chairman of the conference committee.

The House version of the bill calls for annual supervisory reviews for teachers that include student performance as one criterion. The House bill also gives the Department of Education final say over what type of evaluation is used in each school district.

The Senate version of the bill calls for annual reviews with one every three years being a supervisor review and the two others being peer reviews. The Senate version of the bill does not include the student performance requirement and doesn't give the department the power to change evaluation programs.

“The responsibility for education of kids in this state rests on the Department of Education and the State Board of Education,” Jorgensen said. “So it's very important they be involved, and this process has them be the ultimate decision-makers on that process.”

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, who leads the Democrats on the negotiating committee had left the Statehouse before Republicans unveiled their counter-offer Thursday afternoon and was not available for reaction.

But earlier in the day, the Democrats said they could agree to the funding part, if Republicans adopted the Senate career ladder language and agreed to codifying language in the reform bill that would keep a $30 million block grant program aimed at reducing class sizes going for at least two more years.

Quirmbach said the grant money was critical, because otherwise the Republicans could “Rob Peter to pay Paul, which is especially unfair when Paul is the first-grader stuck in an overcrowded classroom.”

The Republican proposal agreed to both conditions, but Jorgensen indicated a willingness to use the money as a cudgel to get the language Republicans want.

“With this proposal we're still willing to do the 2 plus 2 plus 4, but if we cannot get meaningful education reform in our opinion, certainly funding will be flexible,” Jorgensen said.