Statewide Iowa (RI) — This Thursday is the legal deadline for the legislature to decide how much the state will spend on K-12 schools next year.
That deadline is routinely missed, however, and House Republicans have yet to reveal their initial offer in the negotiations. In January, Governor Reynolds suggested a state funding increase of two percent. Last week, Senate Republicans suggested slightly less.
Michelle Johnson of the Iowa Association of School Boards says that figure does not address the inflationary costs school districts face.
Any person hired to start teaching in the 2026-27 school year must be paid a salary of at least $50,000, and any teacher with 12 years of experience must be paid at least 60-thousand dollars.
A spokesman for the School Administrators of Iowa and Rural School Advocates of Iowa says there’s another percentage lawmakers should consider. Contract negotiations over teacher pay are tied to the Consumer Price Index, which is just under three percent.
Melissa Peterson of the Iowa State Education Association says the state teachers union is calling for at least a five percent increase in state support of school.
Joshua Brown, a middle school teacher from Des Moines, is president of the Iowa State Education Association. He says the national reputation of Iowa’s K-12 system is suffering because Republican lawmakers are over-emphasizing the state-funded Education Savings Accounts that cover private school expenses.
In the current year, every private school student with an Education Savings Account got nearly $8,000 in state money, and public school districts got the same amount for each student enrolled.
KIWA Staff Photo
