Starvation budget for schools will mean teacher layoffs

This may be the first time in 40 years that the Legislature will provide zero new money for Iowa schools.

Failure to increase basic state aid to schools could cost at least 1,500 jobs statewide. Earlier this year, a survey of Iowa school superintendents revealed that zero new money for schools would mean layoffs, more crowded classes and higher property taxes.

We don’t understand why some legislators are turning their backs on local schools just when the economy is beginning to recover.  We oppose a budget plan that would undercut local students and communities by firing hundreds of teachers, increasing class sizes, cutting music and arts programs, increasing property taxes and diminishing educational opportunity.

In the Iowa Senate, we’ve voted twice for a two percent increase in basic state aid to our local schools. This would provide about $65 million. The Republican-controlled Iowa House, on the other hand, has voted to provide no new funding for our local schools (House File 184) and has refused to act on the funding approved by the Senate.

School boards across Iowa must finalize their budgets for the coming year by April 15. The Iowa House’s refusal to approve a modest increase in basic state aid is putting at risk a quality education for thousands of Iowa schoolchildren.