Iowa DOGE Task Force recommendations include study of benefits, teacher bonuses

DES MOINES — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday unveiled a report that recommends ways to make state government run more efficiently. Among the suggestions are a study of public employee benefits, implementing achievement-based pay for teachers, and lowering property taxes.

The 15-member Iowa DOGE Task Force of Iowa business leaders, elected officials and educators — which was created by Gov. Kim Reynolds through executive order in February — submitted its 45 recommendations to Reynolds on Sept. 29.

The task force, whose name is similar to the federal Department of Government Efficiency created by President Donald Trump, met four times over the last six months and focused on three focus areas: workforce, technology and return on taxpayer investment.

Reynolds said her office and cabinet members will review the recommendations in detail to determine which ones to put forward as proposed legislation during the 2026 legislative session.

“I have always believed that it is important that we never settle, that we continue to look for ways to be more effective, more efficient and accountable to the taxpayers of Iowa,” Reynolds said during a press conference at the Iowa Capitol Tuesday morning. “It makes us better, and it's what business does every single day. If they had not looked at their operations for 40 years, there would not be a business today that would still be in business.”

Ahead of the report’s public release, some of the task force’s in-progress recommendations sparked public controversy, including one suggestion that the state look at replacing the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System, or IPERS, with a defined contribution system, similar to a 401(k).

During the task force’s last meeting in September, Terry Lutz, the chairman of McClure Engineering and chairman of the Return on Taxpayer Investment Subcommittee, clarified that discussions around those proposals were “misrepresented and misunderstood,” and added the panel would not recommend any changes to benefits for current public employees.

Reynolds on Tuesday emphasized that she does not plan to recommend changes to IPERS for current public employees.

“The level of detail in their final report, I think, shows the extent to which they took their responsibilities to heart, even when some topics sparked public debate,” Reynolds said. “I want to make something very clear before moving on this morning: IPERS isn't going anywhere.

“There's been a lot of public speculation, not to mention misinformation about the potential changes to benefits that state employees and a lot of law enforcement officers, teachers and others relied on, and you can rest assured that IPERS will be there for your retirement, just as you planned and we promised."

Reynolds pointed to efforts by her administration to make state government more efficient — including her 2023 government realignment — as the foundation on which she will consider the task forces’ recommendations.

Emily Schmitt, of Sukup Manufacturing Co., who was appointed by Reynolds as task force chair, said one of the key takeaways is that state government entities should work more like an “ecosystem” to reduce administrative burdens and contribute to economic development.

“This ecosystem of collaboration and evolutionary processes and nimbleness are key to the maintaining of these sustainable successes in successful businesses,” Schmitt said.

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Schmitt said the group received input from more than 5,000 Iowans across all 99 counties.

In addition to the governor’s office putting forward proposals based on the recommendations, Reynolds said lawmakers themselves will have the opportunity to craft legislation based on the report.

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Republican state Rep. Hans Wilz, R-Ottumwa, one of the task force’s ex-officio members, said it will take lawmakers time to process the report and craft potential legislative proposals based on its recommendations.

“It is essential that government operations are consistently evaluated to maximize efficiency. It took the task force 180 days to put together this report based on feedback across all 99 counties, and it will take legislators some time to digest all of its information and seek feedback of our own,” Wilz said in a statement Tuesday. “I am excited to make government efficiency initiatives a major focus in the 2026 Legislative Session.”

Here are other takeaways from the report.

Iowa public employee benefits

While the report guarantees that no current public employees' promised benefits will be reduced under its suggestions, it recommends commissioning a regular study on public compensation and benefits similar to those conducted in the private sector, to “benchmark and optimize the total rewards package for public sector employees.”

The study, which would compare public-sector wages, pensions, health care, paid time off and other benefits against those offered by private employers, also would focus on Iowa’s defined-benefit pension system and whether the state should explore offering current and future employees a “strictly voluntary” defined-contribution plan.

A defined contribution plan, like a 401(k), depends in part on market performance. A defined benefit plan, like IPERS, guarantees a certain level of income in a worker’s retirement.

“By grounding compensation decisions in data, Iowa can invest taxpayer dollars wisely, balancing fiscal responsibility with the need to secure the skilled professionals who deliver essential public services,” the report states. “Existing employees could choose to remain on their current plans or opt into new ones, ensuring no one is forced into a different benefit structure.”

Iowa Republican lawmakers have said they have no interest in making changes to IPERS.

Shortly after the report was released, Democratic state lawmakers criticized the task force’s recommendations for IPERS. Iowa Democratic state Rep. Larry McBurney of Urbandale said any changes to public pensions would be a “devastating blow to Iowa’s workforce and economy.

“For decades, these pensions have provided a secure retirement for public servants, including teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, and social workers, who dedicate their lives to serving our communities,” McBurney said in a statement. “Any changes to this system would break yet another promise to workers and further damage Iowa’s already struggling economy, which is ranked dead last in the nation.”

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Performance-based pay for teachers

Initially, the task force floated an idea to base teacher bonuses on student achievement to help improve test scores across the state, which have fallen in recent years.

In 2024, Iowa’s math scores fell from 7th to 30th in the nation in fourth grade, and 15th to 23rd in the nation in eighth grade, according to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress.

During the task force’s last meeting, Lutz clarified that there would be no reductions in Iowa teacher pay in the recommendations.

Rather, the final report recommends developing a merit-based teacher compensation system that would include a bonus structure, teacher professional development and incentives for those in high-need schools in order to improve student outcomes. High-performing teachers could earn bonuses of 3-10 percent of their base salary based on student improvement, according to the report.

Reynolds said the Teachers Accelerated Learning Grant, also known as TAL, already provides bonuses for teachers, but the recommendation “takes the next step.”

“We should never be afraid of rewarding excellence, and that's what we do,” Reynolds said. “The teachers would never see a decline in their salary. That's not what this is about.”

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Iowa State Education Association President Joshua Brown said the metrics used to measure student performance are “unreliable and often irrelevant” and added that the merit-based pay recommendations do “nothing for students living under circumstances outside their control.”

“The 'pay for performance' recommendation is a tired scheme, for a system repeatedly proven ineffective and harmful,” Brown said. “We need our government to support our students and education professionals, not devise 'fixes' that don’t work.”

Shared government service delivery

The task force also recommended that local governments and school districts share services to help decrease property taxes, an issue Republicans, including Reynolds, have said they will prioritize during the 2026 legislative session.

One of the recommendations would allow cities with populations over 50,000 to elect to become independent cities and have the choice to provide their own services that they currently receive from counties to eliminate “overlapping or duplicative services between the city and county.”

Another recommendation would establish a “local government efficiency” grant program to provide funding for projects where two or more local governments jointly reorganize, share services or regionalize operations to improve efficiency.

Reynolds said she may consider recommending incentives for local governments to share services, but added that the incentives would be short-term rather than “backfilling” these efforts.

“It just should be like a couple years, maybe three years, for them (local governments) to adjust and get everything settled and really operational, and then that needs to go away,” Reynolds told reporters.

Gazette Des Moines Bureau Chief Erin Murphy contributed to this report.