Des Moines, Iowa (RI) — Governor Reynolds and her fellow Republicans in the House and Senate have agreed to raise general state support of public schools by 160 dollars per student. Republican Representative Dan Gelbach of Urbandale says it will amount to nearly 82-hundred dollars per student.
The plan is slightly more than Senate Republicans originally suggested and slightly less than House Republicans proposed. It will provide the two-percent-per-pupil spending increase Governor Reynolds called for in January. House Democrats say this is the 9th year out of 10 that state funding for public schools fails to keep pace with inflation. Representative Heather Matson of Ankeny says a two-percent increase won’t provide enough to cover schools’ operating costs — including the state-required minimum salaries for teachers.
Representative Mary Lee Madison, a Democrat from Des Moines, says this level of funding won’t lead to world-class results in classrooms.
Gehlbach was the only Republican to speak during Thursday’s House debate. He says the demographic reality is that there’s been a more than five-percent decline in public school enrollment in the past decade, while the number of school staff has grown by 11 percent.
Gehlbach and 57 other House Republicans approved the plan, while five other Republicans joined Democrats in voting against it. The two-percent-per-pupil spending increase will apply to state-funded Education Savings Accounts for private school students, too.
KIWA Staff Photo
