Advocates: Iowa schools reform could cost millions

JOHNSTON (AP) ?Efforts to overhaul Iowa?s school system will likely result in a longer school year and could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, two key education advocates said.

Mary Jane Cobb, executive director of the Iowa State Education Association, said many school districts are already experimenting with revamping their calendar to shorten the summer break and provide shorter breaks during the school year. But lengthening the school year does add to the cost of salaries, she said.

?We have some students who need that support over the summer,? Cobb said. ?A lot of school districts are trying different kinds of calendars, spreading the 180 days differently.?

Gov. Terry Branstad has proposed a sweeping overhaul of the state?s education system that would link teacher pay to performance in the classroom and put in place new measures of student performance. He?s traveling the state pushing the package through next month and will send details of his package to the legislature when it convenes in January.

Both Cobb and Tom Downs, executive director of the Iowa Association of School Boards, said the changes the governor wants won?t be cheap.

?It?s going to take some time and a lot of resources,? Downs said. ?I have heard hundreds of millions of dollars.?

The two spoke during a taping of Iowa Public Television?s ?Iowa Press? program.

School boards are worried that lawmakers will approve sweeping changes in education, without sending along the money to pay for the overhaul, Downs said.

?We still haven?t seen the costs,? said Downs. ?Boards are very concerned about unfunded mandates. Boards are very concerned about living within their revenue streams.?

Cobb said the teachers union has yet to take a position on the education reform package.

Both said Branstad?s plan for deep cuts in commercial and industrial property taxes could aggravate districts? financial problems because schools depend heavily on property taxes.