Fact Checker: Reynolds gets mixed scores in 2023 Condition of the State

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds focused on several major themes in her 2023 Condition of the State address: Changing education funding, shrinking government and easing regulations. The Fact Checker checked seven claims she made during her Tuesday night televised speech.

The Fact Checker team started by asking Reynolds’ staff for sourcing, which they provided Wednesday afternoon. We also talked with other state officials and used other state and federal databases to measure the claims.

Claim: “Today, we spend $3.6 billion dollars on PreK-12 education, $1 billion more than we did in 2012. That’s a 37 percent increase.”

Analysis: PreK-12 Supplement State Aid went from about $2.62 billion in fiscal 2012 to $3.6 billion in fiscal 2023, according to the Iowa Department of Management.

This is, in fact, an increase of about $1 billion over the last decade — a 37 percent increase.

In February 2022, the Iowa Legislature approved a 2.5 percent state supplemental aid increase for K-12 schools, bringing the total from $3.4 billion to $3.6 billion. Democrats proposed twice as much for the annual state aid increase, calling the Republican proposal inadequate.

Since 2011, the Legislature has approved annual increases of 1 to 2 percent most years, with the exception of 4 percent in 2015.

Grade: A

Claim: “There are states that spend much less, with better results. Florida spends $2,000 less per student and outperforms us in math and reading.“

Analysis: Florida K-12 schools spent $9,983 per pupil in 2022, according to Education Data Initiative, a nonpartisan education research organization that collects data from academic and federal sources. State funding accounted for $4,286 per pupil.

In the same year, Iowa K-12 schools spent $11,935 per pupil. State funding accounted for $7,453 per pupil.

By total per pupil, Iowa schools spent $1,952 more than Florida schools — within rounding distance of $2,000, as Reynolds claimed.

National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, commonly referred to at the Nation’s Report Card, shows Florida fourth-graders scored one point higher than Iowa fourth-graders in math. Both states were among 17 that scored higher than the national average.

Florida substantially outperformed Iowa’s fourth-graders in reading, with a score of 225 compared to Iowa’s 218.

However, eighth-graders in Iowa scored substantially higher than Florida in both math and reading.

For that grade, Iowa’s math score was 8 points higher and above the national average, compared with Florida’s below average score. In reading, Iowa eighth-graders scored 7 points higher than Florida, and also above the national average.

Overall, Iowa scored higher in science, while Florida scored higher in writing in fourth and eighth grade.

The fourth grade data cited by Reynolds seems to be cherry-picked, not citing Iowa’s substantial advantage in eighth-grade scores. But she is correct in stating that Florida spends substantially less than Iowa.

Grade: B

Claim: “Overdoses are up by more than 34 percent, and for Iowans under 25, they’re more than double. In 2021, illicit fentanyl was implicated in 83 percent of all Iowa’s opioid-related deaths, compared to just 31 percent five years ago.”

Analysis: Reynolds earlier made this assertion in July, while warning of fentanyl-laced pills, with more specificity that she was taking about overdose deaths, not just overdoses. She said Iowa saw 470 drug overdose deaths in 2021, compared with 350 in 2019 — “due mostly to opioids.”

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley in October repeated the statistic, reporting during a question-and-answer sessions that “Drug overdose deaths have climbed 34 percent between 2019 and 2021. Among Iowans age 25 and younger, overdose deaths surged by 120 percent.”

While it’s true that opioid deaths increased in the time period, as the governor claimed, the number of Iowans who died and the percentage of an increase that represents reported from other sources — including numbers from the state government — differ from the data she reported in July.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports Iowa saw 400 total drug overdose deaths in 2021, down 7 percent from 432 in 2020 but up 14 percent from 352 in 2019.

The state’s “Iowa Public Health Tracking Tool” reported 248 opioid-specific deaths in 2021, up 18 percent from 210 in 2020 and 59 percent from 156 in 2019.

The Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy’s most recent 2022 annual report corroborates that state opioid-death data, showing the 210 in 2020 was up 34 percent from 156 in 2019. It does not give a 2021 figure.

Grade: B

Claim: “Last year we launched the nation’s first teacher apprenticeship program, and I’m proud to announce that the results have been amazing. The program is on track to have 1,000 apprentices by next year.”

Analysis: The state awarded $45.6 million in grants to 134 districts, which is projected to cover the educational costs and part of the salaries of more than 500 teachers and 500 paraeducators.

Reynolds’s statement implies the program has the maximum enrollment called for in funding the program. But her staff just pointed us back to a news release about the funding — leaving it unclear how many actually are enrolled in the apprenticeships.

Grade: B

Claim: “Iowa has 37 executive branch cabinet members, significantly more than both our neighbors and best practice.”

Reynolds shared with the Fact Checker a list of 38 employees titled “State of Iowa Current State.” It’s a broad group of employees that extends beyond state departments, including the heads of appointed boards including the Iowa Utility Board, the Iowa Lottery Authority, STEM Council and the Division of Banking.

If you include just department heads, Iowa has 17. This is closer in number to cabinets in neighboring states, which range between 20 and 24.

Grade: A

Claim: “We merged our two different groups of administrative law judges, one in workforce development and the other in the department of inspections and appeals. Within three months, a backlog of over 5,400 cases was gone …”

Analysis: When the merger happened in July, Workforce Development and Inspections and Appeals had a backlog of cases dating to the COVID-19 pandemic that had been heard by judges, but not written up or mailed, Inspections and Appeals spokeswoman Stefanie Bond said Wednesday.

By streamlining processes, the combined group of administrative law judges completed the languishing cases within three months, she said. It likely helped the agencies went back to their regular caseload of 1,200 to 1,500 cases at a time.

Grade: A

Claim: “Over time, Iowa’s Administrative Code has ballooned to more than 20,000 pages and 190,000 restrictive terms. Many of these rules are unnecessary. Some are actually counterproductive, short-circuiting legitimate economic activity and making our state less competitive. ”

Analysis: The Iowa Administrative Code is updated every two weeks, year-round. The current page count for the Iowa Administrative Code is 20,285 pages, nearly 10 times the volume when the modern code was established in 1975, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency.

However, the number of rules in the Iowa Administrative Code have decreased by an average of nearly 100 rules a year over the last roughly five years. There are currently 24,881 rules in the Iowa Administrative Code compared with 25,356 as of Feb. 1, 2018, according to the agency.

“The numbers indicate that in the last five years, more rules have been rescinded than added,” said the agency’s Jack Ewing.

Grade: C

Criteria

The Fact Checker team checks statements made by an Iowa political candidate or officeholder or a national candidate/officeholder about Iowa, or in advocacy ads that appear in our market.

Claims must be independently verifiable. We give statements grades from A to F based on accuracy and context.

If you spot a claim you think needs checking, email us at factchecker@thegazette.com.

Members of the Fact Checker team are Tom Barton, Elijah Decious, Erin Jordan and Vanessa Miller. This Fact Checker was researched and written by the team.