Legislators field education questions at forum

KALONA — State Rep. Heather Hora and Sen. Dawn Driscoll fielded numerous questions in Kalona on Friday, during the Washington Chamber of Commerce’s last legislative forum of the year, and of this election cycle, which will see both lawmakers’ names on the ballot in June, and likely November.

Friday’s forum came on the heels of a massive education bill, which set budgets for public schools, raised teacher minimum salaries and made major changes to the Area Education Agency system. It also happened days ahead of a house vote on House File 2586, a bill that would allow trained staff to carry guns in school buildings, which went now sits on the governor’s desk. Another much-discussed policy proposal, which would move school start dates closer to the end of the Iowa State Fair, also drew comments at the meeting.

All agree on need for rural schools, not on how to support them

The Iowa City Community School District voted unanimously in late March to close Hills Elementary School, blaming budget cuts for the move, which is expected to save it $1.6 million. The building of 141 students in southern Johnson County is a part of Hora’s district.

At least one school board member, Lisa Williams, blamed the legislature for the decision. According to The Gazette, she cited “chronic and persistent underfunding by the state,” in her rationale for the cost-saving closure.

Hora criticized the move at last week’s forum. She and Driscoll attended a meeting with community members in Hills shortly after the announcement, to discuss alternatives that might keep doors open, like switching to another district.

“The governor’s priority is revitalizing rural Iowa, and part of revitalizing rural Iowa is having an elementary school in each rural town, I think that that’s essential,” she said. “Our goal is to create a community ownership of an elementary, which is what the community in Hills wanted to do.”

Some, however, are skeptical of such ideas.

ICCSD is the fifth largest district in the state, and sends Hills residents to Iowa City West High School, which is ranked #1 in the state by the U.S. & World News Report. Keeping Hills open under another district, skeptics say, would undermine students at higher grade levels.

Disclosure: Kalen McCain is a current employee of the Iowa City Community School District, and a former employee of Iowa City West High School.

Additionally, the question remains of how the building would separate from the Iowa City district, which has not publicly discussed plans to sell the property.

“What would actually be the benefit, to send the Hills students to different communities?” asked one journalist from The News, a Kalona-based paper that covers Washington County and southern Johnson County. “I know Lone Tree can’t afford to build a new building, so Highland and Mid-Prairie probably can’t, either.”

Hora clarified that she wasn’t sure of the nearby districts’ ability to afford the building, but said she expected Hills students to open-enroll at Iowa City’s schools, if they saw fit.

Others, she argued, would be better-served by the aforementioned rural districts, and by any other approach that could keep the building open for public, elementary-level education.

“There’s parents that pick Highland, there’s parents that pick Mid-Prairie, over West High,” she said. “Kudos to West High, but there are families that don’t want their kids to go there. And so, giving them the ability to go wherever they want is a fantastic thing.”

Legislators optimistic about AEA reform, some superintendents skeptical

A long-anticipated AEA overhaul bill was signed into law March 27. The policy gives school districts control over how to spend dollars currently sent to AEAs for general education and media services, allowing them to seek non-AEA providers instead. It also grants districts more control 10% of their special education funds, which currently go to AEAs automatically.

Legislators said the move would force the agencies to step up their game, and lower costs that schools spend on their services, without forcing a change if school officials are happy with their current services.

“We do believe that competition will bring those prices down,” Hora said. “Right now, the money goes straight to the AEA instead of coming to the schools, so that’s going to change. The schools can have some control over the money … the AEA administration cost is ginormous. We need to reel that back in, and get that money back down to the classrooms, and serve the special ed kids that need it.”

While some district administrators have spoken out in favor of the bill, others are worried it could leave rural schools high and dry.

Critics argue that larger districts, equipped with more dollars and more resources, could switch to higher-quality private providers for AEA services, leaving other schools to work with education agencies that relied on the lost funding.

Washington Superintendent Willie Stone said he’s “hoping (legislators) are right” about lowering costs, but said he saw little evidence to support that outcome.

“My biggest worry is the economy of scale, once all this goes through,” said Washington Superintendent Willie Stone in an interview last month. “As a district, we use our AEA all the time for professional development reasons, helping our teachers get better. Now, that could become somewhat privatized, if school district after school district decides to pull out of the AEA, and that’s my concern. Once it becomes privatized, we typically don’t see prices go down.”

The area education agency reform was tied to other education policies, namely a 2.5% state supplemental aid rate, which will shape schools’ annual budgets, and a minimum starting salary for Iowa teachers, backed by state money to pay those wages through 2026.

School officials say they’re grateful for the support as rural districts struggle to hire educators, but some are worried about funding the requirement down the road.

“I’m getting a lot of questions about what’s going to happen after (2026,)” Mid-Prairie Superintendent Brian Stone said. “We’re getting additional TSS funds to support that now.”

Hora said there was a plan to cover that cash, and said the money would not trade off with other school funding.

“Going forward, that will be built into the formula,” she said. “But they do have a plan for that … the governor is adamant about getting that money down into the classrooms where it helps, and that was one way we saw to do it.”

Community members worry about guns in schools

House File 2586, which would allow trained staff members to carry guns in schools, and require high schools in districts of over 8,000 students to employ a school security officer, unless they opt out. The bill would also create grants to help schools hire security personnel.

A Des Moines Register poll taken shortly after January’s shooting at Perry High School found that 60% of Iowans favored allowing “teachers and other staff to carry firearms in schools after completing training.”

Republicans say the measure will help rural school buildings respond to similar threats, without waiting on a police response from miles away.

“This program is completely voluntary, and if your district wants this, their school board, their superintendent will have to vote on it,” Driscoll said. “Now these schools, for their choice, will be able to provide this measure for their students.”

Others disagree.

"I’m really kind of upset about you having teachers, carrying guns in schools,“ said one member of the audience. When she asked lawmakers if other states had found similar measures helpful in preventing school shootings, Driscoll and Hora said they were “not positive.”

Interests clash over potential new school start date

One bill proposed by Driscoll this session would have changed the earliest possible school year starting day up from the Aug. 23 date, to the Tuesday after the state fair. The currently mandatory August start day was enacted in 2015, in an effort to prevent schools from pulling traffic away from the state fair.

Driscoll’s bill, died in a funnel period, but the start date change has since been added to another piece of legislation, as schools seek to prevent late-ending school years with earlier starts.

“A lot of my districts have said, year after year, that they wanted a set Tuesday,” the senator said. “My specific bill died, but there is still language floating around.”

Tourism industry leaders, however, say they want to see the current start date maintained.

Iowa Travel Industry Partners Executive Director Chelsea Lerud said keeping the Aug. 23 rule intact would ensure maximum cash flow through the massive state fair.

“Every day that school starts earlier than that is a loss of over $22 million to the state economy,” she said. “And that’s a loss to sales tax revenue which is extremely important to the services that we all love here as residents of the state.”

The Cedar Rapids Gazette’s Grace King contributed to this report.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com