Have you heard? We have an election coming up next week. If you haven't, then you are probably one of the lucky ones who hasn't been inundated with text messages. I checked the spam filter on my phone and counted 36 text messages from last Thursday alone reminding me to vote or asking for money.
Now, while the focus is at the federal level and on who the next president will be, it is paramount that we consider the down ballot races as well. What happens at the federal level is important, but what happens at the local level is likely to have a greater impact on your day to day lives.
As you contemplate all of these contests, I would encourage you to reflect on the work of the state legislature over the last two years. Consider the issues they have tackled, and those they have not. Do they match your value system? Do they not? Then vote accordingly. For me, it is important that we have elected officials that understand and value public education. And by the way, saying so and doing so are two very different things. Based on the actions of our legislature over these last two years, some of the policy decisions that have been made makes me question the value placed on public education.
In the past, when the legislature was in session I carved out time in my schedule to make the trek to Des Moines and meet with our lawmakers. I felt that it was my duty as a public school superintendent to share information that I believed was helpful when shaping policy. I wanted them to understand the pros and cons of their proposals, help make them better, and in some cases advocate for the legislation not to move forward. It used to be time well spent and impactful. I don't do much of that anymore. Quite frankly I don't think they are interested in what I have to say because my advocacy (and most of my colleagues) is ineffective and fails to resonate.
To be honest over the last several years, I have not looked forward to the legislative session and find it to be quite stressful. What once was viewed as an opportunity to improve our public schools has now become a white knuckled ride, waking up each day and wondering: What are they going to do to us next?
Even so, when I head for the ballot box there are a few things that are top of mind, particularly when considering education policy in Iowa.
First, and most important is a call to protect our AEA system. You may recall sweeping legislation that was enacted last year which fundamentally changed the operational posture of the AEA. It mandates a mission that is more centered around special education compliance. This is a departure from the original charter of the organization, removing some of the educational and media services that local school districts had come to rely on over the years. It hastened a departure of staff and made efforts to recruit replacement staff challenging. Help was only a phone call away. Granted, that same help is [still] now only a phone call away: for a fee. This was a significant piece of legislation, one that we would have been wise to study and debate more thoughtfully prior to enactment. We are just at the starting gate of fully understanding the consequences of this massive overall of the statewide Area Education Agencies, and prior to any further changes we must be thoughtful. In every way, this legislation has made work in local school districts, particularly those in small rural communities more difficult and costly.
I worry about adequate and timely supplemental state aid. To remind my readers, supplemental state aid, or SSA, is the percentage by which the state cost per pupil grows annually. It is required to be settled within 30 days of the beginning of the legislative session. Our wish is that it is set timely, and that it is adequate. Our legislature does not have a good track record. The growth rate has hovered around 2% for more than a decade and is rarely set on time. Very few costs in a school budget are growing at 2% or less per annum. To meet these constraints, many school districts delay curriculum acquisitions, understaff or eliminate supplementary programs, or suppress employee wages; creating shortages throughout the industry. Now to the legislature's credit, they worked to increase teacher wages and have set in motion a plan that increases the base rate for teachers to $47,500 for the current school year and $50,000 for the next school year. I applaud this decision! It was an incredibly heavy lift and took a lot of time during the last legislative session, which unfortunately further delayed setting the SSA rate. However, I would argue that had SSA not been artificially depressed over the last decade, we wouldn't have been in a position where such a huge infusion of capital all at once would have even been necessary.
The question now is whether or not this is sustainable. It may have been an easy 'yes' had this same legislature not implemented an ESA program. Couched under this idea of 'school choice', in the first year of enactment more than 60% of the funds went to families that were already attending nonpublic schools. At the same time, private schools are increasing tuition by thousands of dollars to not only gobble up the entire amount of the ESAs, but going even further and putting their programs out of reach for the very students ESAs were supposedly targeted. School choice? Yes: For the school. Let's not also forget, this was set up as a standing appropriation, meaning the skies the limit. Whatever it costs, the state picks up the tab. So far, it has cost far more than originally anticipated and the contract with the out of state company hired to manage the program has more than doubled. Hundreds of millions of dollars fed into a system with little accountability, that instead could have been used to set SSA at a more appropriate and reasonable rate.
Election day is November 5th. Don't forget to vote!
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