Washington Evening Journal
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Rep. Hayes week 5
By Iowa Rep. Helena Hayes (R-District 88)
Feb. 20, 2025 10:32 am
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
(Feb. 14, 2025) Week 5 has proven that it will be a while before we slow down! Committee meetings were busy passing numerous bills, and we had our second day of floor debate for the year. We also passed our SSA (Supplemental Student Aid) Funding Proposal out of the House on Thursday.
This week, the Senate passed a bill to increase SSA Funding for the next fiscal year by 2%. This is in alignment with what the Governor proposed in her budget. Iowa House Republicans are interested in getting more funding to public schools and have a proposal of our own. We passed our bill through the Iowa House on Thursday.
Here’s what it entails:
•An increase of 2.25% in SSA funding. This increase, plus the second phase of the teacher salary increase passed last session results in $114.5 million more for public schools.
•A one-time increase of 0.6% SSA payment which equates to $22.6 million more for schools.
•An $10 increase in per pupil equity, which equates to a $5.8 million increase.
•An increase in the Operational Sharing Budget from 21 to 25, providing an additional $1 million to schools.
•Increasing School Transportation to cap the cost of transportation for each school district at the statewide average of $430, resulting in $5.8 million in additional funds.
Altogether, these increases equate to a 3.93% increase in state funding to public schools. The new state cost per pupil under this proposal would be $8,039 per pupil. That includes $27 per student for the .6% increase. In FY 2025, we allocated $3.7876 billion to public education. This proposal would allocate $3.9368 billion. These increases represent the many specific funding issues we hear from our school districts. While each line item may not affect each individual school district equally, one line item may have a big impact on addressing the issue a specific district is facing. House Republicans are working to respond to the specific concerns we’re hearing from our schools in a responsible manner. We recognize that our 30-day deadline to settle an SSA number has passed. We are hopeful that this delay will be worth it as we work to secure additional dollars for our public schools. We will continue to work to reach resolution on this issue in a timely manner so that our school districts have adequate time to set their budgets.
How does this compare to Educational Savings Accounts (ESA) Funding for private schools?
Democrats have circulated the misleading claim that we are increasing ESA funding by 44% while increasing public school funding by 2.25%. They say this to make it sound as if we are spending more on private schools than on public schools. But that is far from the truth.
The cost of ESAs increases each year at the same rate as the number we set for SSA. This year is the final year of expansion in the ESA program that allows all families to qualify. Which is why the increase looks greater this year.
The increase to the ESA program under the House proposal would be $97.4 million. To be clear, this is on top of the $149.2 million increase outlined above that is just for public schools.
Even with this expansion, the cost of the ESA program does not even come remotely close to the amount we spend each year on public schools. In the FY 2025 budget, state aid to public schools accounts for 43.62% of the entire state budget. That’s the biggest piece of the pie by far. ESAs, meanwhile, account for 2.01% of the total state budget. ESAs are not breaking the state budget and they are not preventing us from properly investing in our public school system as well.
Staff and volunteers with the ISU Extension Office visited the Capitol this week. They provided each of the legislators an Impact Report Summary for their district. Here is a brief summary of some of my favorite highlights from the report for Mahaska, Keokuk and Jefferson Counties:
Jefferson County
•ISU Extension expanded programming for both summer (summer camps, project workshops) and in-classroom (Ag in the Classroom in K-5 youth for Fairfield and Pekin Community School Districts).
•Offered a Grant Writing 101 course for volunteers and community employees. Twenty four individuals participated.
•Jefferson Co Extension, partnered with Fairfield Public Library and offered a 5 week “Raising School Ready Readers” course for families with children age 3-6.
•Partnered with Wapello County to offer a “Master Conservationist” course and beekeeping course.
•Offered “Annie’s Project” to increase woman participation/visibility in Ag.
Keokuk County
•Keokuk Co Extension delivered 143 “Safety First Harvest Buckets” to farmers across Keokuk County.
•Keokuk County Youth County Council members assisted with Meals from the Heartland and packaged over 21,000 meals.
•Offered a “Kids in the Kitchen” course — a 6 hour program in the summer to educate youth on healthy food choices, food safety, and taught measuring, recipe reading, knife skills, and nutrition information.
•Offered a “Private Well Stewardship Program” to help educate private well owners on their responsibilities and risks with the goal to encourage owners to test their water quality once per year.
Mahaska County
•Mahaska Co Extension hosted their 3rd annual Farm to Table event, allowing producers to discuss their farming operations with the public.
•Expanded youth programs/events to attract those not involved in 4-H and bring the community closer together — Southern Iowa Fair, Shades of Blue, Fall Fest, Pick a Better Snack, Art on the Square, and others.
•Offered a “Salsa Workshop” to educate the public on the ease and safety of canning at home to increase public awareness of food preservation.
Upcoming events:
Eggs & Issues at Smokey Row Oskaloosa (109 S Market St. Oskaloosa, IA) will take place on these dates:
Feb. 22 — 8:30-9:30 a.m.
March 22 — 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Fairfield Chamber of Commerce Legislative Forum at the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center (200 North Main St. Fairfield, IA) will take place on these dates:
March 15 — 7:30-9:00 a.m.
If you have any questions about these events, don't hesitate to reach out to me. Forums and events will be posted on my Facebook page as well as here in the newsletter!