A lot has happened in the news this past week that shows the frustration growing with Iowa politics, specially in regards to holding our kids for ransom. We are now in March where by law we have to certify our budgets and school calendars. Yet, our state politicians are more than a year behind in setting what our per-pupil amount will be and have not even told us when we will be allowed to start school. School districts were promised both of these would be done in the first 30 days of session. As I write this today, neither have been done.
This week the Senate passed a bill that gives control of the school calendar back to locally elected school boards. This will never hold up in the House, and even if it did would be vetoed by the governor. You only have to look at who is supporting these bills to determine where our children's education lies in terms of priorities. The Senate bill is supported by education associations that represent school boards, administration, and teachers. The House bill is supported by the Iowa Restaurant Association, the Iowa Lodging Association, and the Travel Federation of Iowa. Yep, I bet those in favor of the House bill are thinking about nothing but our children's education-- insert sarcasm.
An even more interesting article came out yesterday in terms of funding, or better stated as the inequality of funding allowed to happen in our State. The Quad City Times reported that Art Tate, superintendent of Davenport Public Schools stated since the politicians in Iowa don't have to follow the law, he was also not going to follow the law. While I am still too young in my career to go breaking Iowa law, I can't argue the point Superintendent Tate is making. Without even talking new money toward education, our politicians need to fix the inequity of school funding. Like Davenport, Central is funded at $175 less per-pupil. That inequity alone cost our district $78,750. This is not the only inequity allowed to happen in Iowa school funding. One major area that affects Central is transportation. Due to the geography of our school district (and school districts of NE Iowa), we seldom have direct routes to our country homes. Because of this, we have higher transportation costs than most districts in the state of Iowa. This cost comes out of our general fund, the same fund used to pay for programs and teachers. When looking at the state average, Central pays $325 more per-pupil in transportation cost over the average. The transportation inequity cost Central $146,250 this year. Both inequities combined equal $225,000 this school year alone. As our parent survey has shown frustration with lack programs and offerings, imagine how many programs and offerings we could increase if we were just funded equally!
Another fund many of you have heard about is the Teacher Leadership & Compensation Grant (TLC). When Governor Branstad visited Mobile Track Solutions this past summer (before elections) I asked the governor about school funding. He did not answer my question, but instead promoted TLC as a huge investment in Iowa schools. While I won't argue it is an investment in Iowa schools ($310 per-pupil), this fund does not go into our general fund and can only be used for the purposes of TLC. Another part of TLC not being shared with our public is the fact they phased this in over three years. The first year, these funds went almost solely to urban school districts. The ratio was much better in year two of including rural school districts, yet Central still has not received the funding. This is another $139,500 Central is missing out on this year that could have been used to increase our staff and teacher leadership positions.
So in one year, Central is missing out on $364,500 in funding, simply because inequality in the school funding formula exists. That is a HUGE amount of money that could be used to increase the programs offered to our kids, take some of the workload off of our teachers, purchase school supplies, etc. And remember this money is simply what other school districts across Iowa are already receiving and Central is not. As parents and supporters of our local school district, we should be deeply concerned about this! Please share this with your friends and family and be vocal when talking with our state politicians. They need to get this changed.
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