Casino, taxes, schools top-of-mind at Washington forum

WASHINGTON — A legislative briefing hosted by the Washington Chamber of Commerce Friday afternoon saw state lawmakers and Washington community members discuss a handful of hot topics expected to come up in the recently started 2025 legislative session.

State Sen. Dawn Driscoll and State Rep. Heather Hora, both Republicans, opened the meeting with a rundown on some of their early-session focuses. The lists included nuclear energy policy, a vet diagnostic lab and math curriculum changes, among a number other issues as they wrapped up their first week of the term.

The pair then answered questions from the numerous community members packed into Washington City Hall for the event. While the dozens constituents had a wide variety of subjects on the mind, a few recurring themes emerged.

Casino legislation at forefront

Rep. Hora said her “number one priority” in the statehouse at the moment was a casino moratorium, along with other measures to block a proposed new gambling location in Cedar Rapids.

She said the proposed casino would “cannibalize” others like Riverside, costing the Washington County community about 200 jobs and reducing revenue for others around the state.

“I appreciate the fact that Cedar Rapids is so passionate about what they want, but we need it here in rural Iowa,” she said. “We also don’t want to make Iowa a Nevada, or a South Dakota where you can find a casino on every corner. We need to make our casinos destination casinos, which was the intent in the very beginning. And I think we need to remind (The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission) that, that was our intent from the beginning and hold their feet to the fire.”

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Asked later in the forum what kinds of provisions she’d like to see in the law, Hora said she expected to support a bill that went further than a short-term moratorium.

“What we will have in the bill is parameters around future casinos,” she said. “The problem is, we need to have parameters such as cannibalizations … so not only is it important to have a moratorium, but to have parameters around what racing and gaming sets their decision based on. Both of those things are in this bill, I think, that’s coming.”

Lawmakers promise tax cuts

Both state officials said in opening remarks that they hoped to deliver “property tax relief” in 2025, on top of the tax cuts enacted in the last few sessions.

The plan was praised by a handful in the audience, who said their taxes remained unreasonably high. Driscoll said she’d heard similar concerns across the district while campaigning, and said the matter was on the top of Republicans’ to-do list, although she didn’t have any specific details to offer so early in the year.

“We haven’t seen a bill yet, dropped on that, but I know Ways and Means Committee chairs have been working on that for a long time,” she said. “That will be proposed this session.”

In Washington, local elected officials have openly worried the state’s tax limitations would strain county and city budgets in the next few years. Washington City Council Member Illa Earnest asked Hora and Driscoll on Friday to carefully consider any further shake-ups to the tax code.

“We’re very proud of our city, and we try very hard, the council, to get the most bang for our buck,” Earnest said. “I want to just remind you to, please, consider the projects and the city councils that have big loads that we need to pay for … I appreciate you being aware of, maybe, unintended consequences.”

The senator said she was aware of input from such local governments, and pledged to keep them in the loop as tax cuts are discussed. She also said recent reforms, like House File 718, applied mostly to urban areas with faster-growing populations and property values.

“We’re always mindful, and worried about our rural areas because we would never want to hurt them in any way,” Driscoll said. “We have a wide gamut of legislators, being a citizen legislator is so important because we all have full-time jobs … we’re the rural voices, we represent our rural community.”

Education seems likely to take spotlight again

The last few years of lawmaking caused major waves in Iowa schools. State-funded private tuition assistance, minimum teacher salaries, new attendance laws and Area Education Agency reform all drew public attention for months at a time.

2025 seems likely to follow that pattern. The plurality of questions at Friday’s event focused on schools and where fielded by Hora, who is the only state representative with a seat on all three of the house’s education, education appropriations, and higher education committees.

First up for discussion was cellphone policies. Hora opened the meeting saying she hoped to address mobile device policies for school districts in the coming school year. That drew pushback from at least one member of the audience.

“As a Conservative, I am a little bit concerned about your tinkering with school board prerogatives,” said James Graham, a resident of rural Kalona.

Responding to a later question about the anticipated policies, Hora said any new state laws would establish guidance and a baseline for restrictions, though she cautioned that she hadn’t seen a bill on the matter yet, and could speak to any specifics.

“We get a lot of requests from superintendents and teachers wanting us to set parameters, because they can’t get everybody to follow the same rules,” Hora said. “What we’re seeing is, the schools that have implemented a stricter cellphone policy are having better results with student performance. They say the minute that that phone either vibrates, or a picture comes up … that distracts learning.”

Also on the docket are reforms for Iowa’s school start date. The current law requires districts to wait until Aug. 23 to begin classes, in an effort to give kids and families ample time after the Iowa State Fair, and support the state’s tourism industry.

At the forum, Highland and WACO Superintendent Ken Crawford said that would put districts in an especially difficult position this year, however. Because Aug. 23 falls on a Saturday, meaning school wouldn’t start until Aug. 25, and wouldn’t end until later than normal in May.

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The 2024 session featured some efforts to change the start date but those fizzled out, met with strong resistance from tourism industry advocates. Crawford proposed a compromise, allowing schools to open on the Tuesday after the Iowa State Fair ends.

“When you take a look at the tourism industry, I think tourism starts in May, too, and when you’re trying to put your calendar together and you’re going past Memorial Day, there’s just some give and take,” he said. “75% of our kids are already active in schools and in athletics, marching band, they’re back at school already.”

Lawmakers said there were at least two bills to that effect already introduced in Des Moines. Driscoll said she hoped to bring it across the finish line this year.

“I really do understand and appreciate the pushback,” she said. “We’ve talked about this multiple times, the students are already back anyway, in August, doing the sports and all of that stuff. And (we want) just to make it consistent, and easier for you guys.”

On another hot-button topic, community member Brad Sheetz brought up four-day school weeks, asking legislators to regulate the model considered by countless districts across the state — including Washington, at a meeting next month.

He asked officials to look into the four-day model’s impact on test scores. Hora said plans were already in motion to study the schedule’s effects, saying she was skeptical about the approach’s suspected impact on teacher recruitment and retention.

“We’re going to work with the department of education and some school districts … and get some real facts behind it,” she said. “I believe that classroom condition has more to do with teacher retention than does a school day school week. We’re going to look at all the options.”

She added that she planned to introduce a bill allowing schools to adopt year-round academic schedules, rather than the typical fall through spring school year.

“Right now they can do it K-8, but we’ve had kind of a cry from parents saying, ‘I want year-round for my kids,’ even from teachers as well,” she said. “You get more breaks throughout the school year, the retention of knowledge is better for students. There’s just a whole lot of reasons to allow it. We’re not mandating anything, but we’re saying at least it would be a possibility for school districts to look at.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com