Iowa (RI) — A member of the government efficiency group that Governor Reynolds appointed this spring is apologizing to other committee members for comments he made last month about teacher pay and the IPERS pension plan for state and local government employees.
Terry Lutz is the former mayor of Fort Dodge.
In early August, Lutz said the current pay system for teachers and administrators isn’t working because it rewards length of service, and he suggested teacher pay should be linked to performance. At a meeting on Monday afternoon, Lutz said no one on the committee has suggested cutting teacher pay.
Lutz says other states are figuring out how to do that — and students’ test scores are improving. Lutz also indicated the committee’s final report will call for a study of compensation systems for all public sector employees — and will suggest lawmakers consider giving future employees the option of choosing a 401K style retirement benefit rather than a pension.
The top two Republicans in the legislature issued statements in August, saying they weren’t interested in making changes to the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System. The government efficiency task force met in person for the final time on Wednesday, but its final report will not be publicly released until it’s presented to the governor on September 29th. Task force chair Emily Schmitt says she’ll try to distill 75 different meetings over 167 days into a set of final recommendations that will make an impact.
Schmitt says the group wasn’t asked to come up with a certain amount of budget savings.
Schmitt is the chief administrative officer and general counsel for Sukup Manufacturing in Sheffield. The governor’s government efficiency task force has discussed dozens of different recommendations, like streamlining job training programs, merging IT systems, and setting up a “red tape hotline” in state government for complaints. The panel is likely to suggest more government business should be conducted electronically, a move that could save the State of Iowa a million dollars a year in postage.
