Democratic senate contender aims to improve education

WASHINGTON — State senate contender Ed Chabal is the recently retired director of business and finance for the Mt. Pleasant Community School District, where he was also the school board secretary. It should come as no surprise, then, that the candidate’s biggest campaign talking points center on education.

A Kalona native and Washington resident, Chabal said he never considered himself the type of person to run for office, and didn’t know what to expect once he got his name on the ballot and hit the campaign trail.

Nonetheless, he said he was spurred to action by what he called an “attack on education” by Iowa’s GOP-led state legislature in recent sessions.

“Every day, for 27 years, I went into the office thinking about how I can allocate resources to make sure our kids get the best education,” he said. “If the legislature isn’t giving us that money, or if they’re taking resources like the AEAs and putting vouchers out there, schools just can’t operate like they need to.”

His political opponents argue that the last several years saw unprecedented support for Iowa education. The GOP-controlled legislature in 2024 approved a 3% increase in State Supplemental Aid, as well as a massive jump in minimum salaries for teachers. Republicans have also argued that financial aid for families seeking private education and increased district discretion in AEA spending would spark competition and improve education overall.

Chabal disagrees, arguing that the approaches would eventually trade off with spending on public schools, and deprive AEAs of resources needed to support their districts.

“What they did to pass that (AEA reform) bill is they basically rolled another unrelated bill into it, which was increasing teacher pay, and that’s the only way they could actually pass the AEA bill,” he said. “If you keep giving our schools low (State Supplemental Assistance) you will basically erode our schools … and Republicans can come in and say, ‘Our schools just aren’t working, they’re not performing the way they should,’ but it’s because of the actions they’ve taken.”

While it’s a major component of his platform, support for public schools isn’t the only issue Chabal expects to focus on if elected. He hopes to support a repeal of Iowa’s “fetal heartbeat law,” a move he said would keep medical decisions between patients and their doctors without government interference.

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He also plans to pursue efforts to make Iowa a more welcoming place in general, and go after environmental improvement initiatives. While he doesn’t have many specific policies in mind to address those issues, the candidate said they needed to be top-of-mind for state lawmakers.

“It’s about having the right priorities,” he said. “We have to take care of our youth with our education system, we have to make sure our schools are fully funded … we need to attract people to Iowa, and not pass laws to target certain groups of people.”

Chabal concedes any lasting solutions will likely involve compromise, and may have to breach party lines. He said he’d strive to overcome partisan squabbling, both in conversations with constituents and lawmakers.

“I think people need to be more in the middle, they have to put people over politics,” he said. “There might be some issues out there where we don’t agree with our parties, but we can’t be afraid to come out and give our views and just provide the reasoning, why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

The candidate is in for a tough race, running against a Republican incumbent with an eventful term to stand on and two election wins already under her belt. That’s not to mention a roughly $100,000 gap in campaign funds, according to the candidates’ latest financial disclosures filed earlier this week.

Still, the Democrat said he had high hopes for Election Day, when he hopes to capitalize on high turnout in a presidential election year.

“I just have to keep a positive attitude. Every day I think about why I’m in it, and basically it’s for the kids,” he said. “I think a lot of people are not happy with the direction our Republican legislators have taken. I’ve talked to Republicans while knocking on doors, and a lot of them are not happy.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com