Republicans no longer care about education

When I moved to Iowa in 1976, the education system was among the best in the country, thanks in part to a Republican governor, Robert D. Ray.

He was very focused on public education in Iowa and was the chair of the Education Commission of the States. His work in Iowa included expanding funding to help reduce local property tax with the state picking up a larger portion of the bill.

He also implemented collective bargaining for state workers. In other words, Gov. Ray understood the importance of education and worked to make it better.

Now let’s look at the same party and Gov. Reynolds to see what they have done to education.

Collective bargaining is out the window thanks to the Republican legislature. Iowa teachers now have no way to stand up for themselves.

One of the most important parts of education is funding. This administration and legislature have underfunded schools significantly.

Since Reynolds has been governor, funding has fallen $1.6 billion based on inflation, and in 2023 -24 alone that is $528.4 million, according to a study by Senator Herman Quirmbach.

Now we have decided to take money away from public schools and give it to private schools. That is $7,826 per child plus the cost of a private administrator to handle the accounting.

Of course, the first recipients are the kids going to private schools. According to the Iowa Department of Education there are 36,692 kids enrolled in private schools.

If you do the math, that could be an incredible number of dollars being taken away from public schools in three years when there are no limits.

It was good of the governor to give teachers a long overdue raise in salary, but now they are looking at less money to teach effectively, not to mention money for supplies, repairs and building upkeep.

The money the teachers’ raise came from other education programs including professional development and the Talented and Gifted program.

I’m not sure that more money will help the brain drain with teachers going to other states. Their pay increase, in many cases, will go to make up for the lack of funding for the classroom.

Separation of church and state takes a big hit when you consider only seven private schools in Iowa are secular. This certainly has the feel of the education goals of Republicans nationally, once again catering to the well off.

It looks like we are trying to make religious elites and teaching or not teaching things conservatives want to control.

Private schools do not require licensed teachers or accept all students. Private schools don’t have to offer free lunches, public schools do.

There are a number of programs private schools don’t have to offer including vital career-oriented classes, art or special education.

All in all, private schools are taking funds from public schools and are not being held accountable to the same standards set out by the state.

This is not Robert Ray’s Republican Party.

John Lenst, Williamsburg