Des Moines, Iowa — Republicans in the Iowa House have sent the governor a bill that will increase general state aid to public schools for the next academic year.
District 1 Republican State Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake tells us about it.
Democrats opposed the bill, saying the increase was not large enough. The Iowa House Democrats accused Republicans of voting for larger class sizes, teacher layoffs, and school cuts. Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, says this level of state aid will force more school consolidations. Wills says this is inaccurate.
He says the bill that passed was the best compromise that could be reached and leaves funding available for other important services.
Representative Walt Rogers, a Republican from Waterloo, is chairman of the House Education Committee. He says, “Funding education is a top priority of what we do. K-12 education gets 43 perent of our budget.”
