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Iowa House GOP proposes higher K-12 funding increase; critics say it’s still not enough
House’s proposed 2.25% is larger than the 1.75% the Senate wants
Feb. 16, 2026 7:14 pm
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DES MOINES — A proposed increase in state funding for Iowa’s K-12 schools advanced by House Republicans still would fall short of preventing staff reductions and program cuts, education advocates say.
Iowa House Republicans on Monday advanced a proposal to increase Iowa’s K-12 per-pupil funding by 2.25 percent for fiscal 2027.
The House Appropriations Committee amended Senate File 2201 to replace the Senate’s 1.75 percent increase in state supplemental aid with the higher 2.25 percent rate. Gov. Kim Reynolds proposed a 2 percent increase in general K-12 school funding included in her budget proposal, published early last month.
The amended bill passed the committee largely along party lines in a 15-8 vote, with Rep. Brian Lohse, R-Bondurant, joining Democrats in opposition. Lohse said school districts in his area had requested a minimum 3 percent increase.
The bill now heads to the House floor, where it will be eligible for debate and a vote. Any differences between the House and Senate versions will need to be resolved in negotiations before final passage.
Rep. Dan Gehlbach, R-Urbandale, who managed the bill, called the proposal a “responsible, sustainable number” that schools can rely on.
The amendment sets supplemental state aid at 2.25 percent for both the regular school funding formula and categorical supplements. It also:
- Continues state funding to prevent any local property tax increases that would have resulted from schools being eligible for the state’s budget guarantee. That guarantee says school districts will receive at least 101 percent of their previous year’s funding and is otherwise funded by local property taxes. Last year’s state funding increase of 3 percent qualified 157 school districts for the budget guarantee at a total cost of $24.3 million in property taxes. At a 1.75 percent increase, 208 districts would be on the guarantee at a cost of $47.7 million, according to the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency.
- Sets the state cost per pupil at $8,168, an increase of $180 per student over the current year.
- Caps transportation equity fund payments at $1 million per district.
- Includes $14 million for paraeducator and support personnel pay, a priority for House Republicans.
Gehlbach said the plan would allocate “almost $4 billion” in state aid to public schools and add $105.8 million in new dollars to a system facing declining enrollment.
“We believe that two and a quarter percent is a responsible, sustainable number and a promise we can make to our school districts,” Gehlbach said.
‘Death by 1,000 cuts’
Democrats questioned both the funding level and the new cap on transportation equity payments.
Rep. Heather Matson, D-Ankeny, pressed Gehlbach on why the House settled on 2.25 percent when the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference in December projected that state revenue would increase by 4.2 percent in fiscal 2027. Matson argued the increase still fails to keep up with inflation and rising operational costs.
She also raised concerns about the $1 million cap on transportation equity funding, which provides additional support to districts with high per-pupil busing costs — often rural or geographically large districts.
Matson noted that districts such as Waterloo and Council Bluffs, both with roughly 74 percent of students qualifying for free and reduced-price lunch, previously received more than $2 million through the program. Capping their funding, she said, would disproportionately affect high-poverty districts already struggling to stretch general fund dollars.
She urged opposition to the amendment, calling the proposal “survival mode funding” and warning that years of incremental increases below inflation amount to “death by 1,000 cuts.”
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 2.1 percent. Last year, the funding increased 3 percent.
Reynolds has pushed back on claims that Iowa schools are being underfunded, arguing in a recent Facebook post that total PreK-12 education funding — including state, local and federal dollars — has grown by 37 percent over the past decade, outpacing inflation. Reynolds said Iowa now invests more than $9 billion annually from all sources in PreK-12 education, a figure she noted is nearly equal to the state’s $9.5 billion overall budget.
But Democrats say that framing paints an incomplete picture.
Matson read from a message written by Caleb Bonjour, superintendent of the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Community School District, southwest of Waterloo, disputing what he described as a “growing narrative” that public schools are overfunded or administratively bloated.
Matson said presenting the grand total of all dollars connected to education “as if it were fully flexible instructional spending is simply not accurate,” noting that significant portions of that funding are restricted. Federal programs such as Title I, she said, are specifically targeted to students living in poverty, students with disabilities, English learners and other high-need populations.
“Those additional funds increase the per-pupil figure because students being served require additional support — that is not inefficiency, that is equity,” Matson read.
Bonjour’s message emphasized that public schools educate every student who walks through the door and cannot turn away students with significant disabilities, behavioral challenges or language needs — obligations that private schools are not required to meet. That difference, he wrote, fundamentally changes the cost structure when comparing public and private education spending.
The superintendent also pushed back on claims of administrative bloat, arguing that staffing growth in recent years largely has been in student-facing roles such as special education teachers, paraeducators, mental health supports, English learner instructors, career and technical education teachers and safety personnel — many tied to state and federal mandates. With recent restructuring of Iowa’s Area Education Agencies, he noted, districts have absorbed additional responsibilities locally.
Bonjour added that declining enrollment does not automatically translate to proportional cost reductions, since buildings must remain open, buses must run routes and specialized staff must remain available even if a few students leave a grade level.
“The real danger is not just inaccurate math,” Matson read. “The danger is in building public distrust around a system that serves every child every day under increasing expectations and shrinking flexibility.”
Districts grappling with declining enrollment
School districts across Iowa continue grappling with declining enrollment and tightening budgets as schools graduate more students than they gain and the Iowa Legislature and governor approve per-pupil state aid increases that don’t meet inflation.
Cedar Rapids is weighing school closures and consolidations as part of roughly $19 million in budget cuts. Des Moines Public Schools is reducing more than $16 million from its budget — primarily by reducing staff through attrition and early retirements — after losing about 3,000 students over the last decade and nearly 680 students this year.
Education advocates have continued calling for a 5 percent increase, arguing anything less fails to keep pace with rising costs. The House’s 2.25 percent proposal narrows the gap but leaves the broader funding debate unresolved as lawmakers move deeper into budget negotiations.
Melissa Peterson, with the Iowa State Education Association, said districts that once relied on reserve balances have moved from trimming budgets to “cutting into the bone.” She pointed to Boone’s elimination of its 100-year-old orchestra program as an example of what districts are forced to do under constrained increases.
Peterson said other policy debates at the Capitol — such as addressing disruptive behavior in classrooms, expanding learning options and adding instructional priorities — carry costs that districts can’t absorb on flat or near-flat budgets.
Parents who testified at a House subcommittee hearing on the Senate bill earlier Monday described the effects they say are already showing up in school buildings — larger classes, stressed staff and disappearing arts, music and other offerings essential to belonging and student development.
Pam Vogel, a former special education teacher and administrator, said families are increasingly alarmed that opportunities are shrinking while public dollars flow to private schools under Iowa’s taxpayer-funded non-public school Education Savings Accounts program.
“We can do better,” she told lawmakers, calling public education the pipeline for Iowa’s workforce and economy.
The Gazette’s Grace King contributed to this report.
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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