Iowa Education Reform Bill Moves out of Committee

The Governor’s Education Reform bill made progress this week and as of 1:00 PM on Thursday, was voted out of the Education and Ways and Means Committees.  The Education Committee made many changes to the bill including giving school districts implementation flexibility.

Additionally there will be 1) a 3-year review of the Teacher/Leadership Program, 2) enhanced teacher and administrator evaluations and 3) the Building Performance Program. This will enhance the accountability of the bill, and provide a way to monitor the success and potential shortcomings of the reforms.

Lastly, the amendments add continuity with the education reform discussion by giving new directives to the Competency Based Education (CBE) task force and taking steps to implement other task force recommendations, including the extended learning pilot project.   The bill will travel to the Appropriations Committee before it becomes eligible for debate. 

 Straight Party Voting

Iowa is one of only 15 states who currently allow straight party voting.  Straight party voting allows individuals to fill in one bubble to indicate a vote for all of the candidates of one party. The recent legislative trend has been to eliminate straight party voting, with seven states abolishing it since 1990.

House File 13 which passed the House State Government Committee last week, eliminates the option to vote straight party for candidates of a party or nonparty political organization and applies to general elections and elections in which more than one partisan office is on the ballot. It now moves to the house floor for further debate.

Protecting Iowans’ Tax Dollars

Two years ago, Iowa faced a $900 million budget shortfall.  Today, we have an ending balance of $688 million and our budget reserves are full.  This is a fundamental change in legislative decision making, driven by Iowans.  Our 99 percent expenditure limitation law has served us well.  However, this law allows the Legislature and the Governor to spend more than the state collects. 

Last week I mentioned the 1st two bullets below in House Joint Resolution 2 which is a proposal to amend the state’s Constitution. This legislation will make it more difficult for the Legislature to raise taxes, send the state into debt, or spend more money than the state takes in.   The 3rd bullet is new this week. 

• Limit the size of the annual state budget to 99 percent of ongoing revenue and send any ending balance to the Taxpayers Trust Fund, where it can be returned to Iowans.

• Require the Legislature approve any tax increase by a 60 percent vote of each chamber.

• Require that any bonding receive two-thirds approval of both chambers of the Legislature.

As bills are continuing to move through the system, we remain very busy with local constituent groups in attendance at the Capitol. Groups with local members who have attended the Capitol this week include the Iowa Grocers, Iowa Association of Realtors, Rural Telecom Providers, Iowa Insurance Association, ABATE, and Iowa Bankers Association, among others.  It is very beneficial to have communication from the district to provide input on the various bills and how they affect citizens in House District 37.  Please feel free to stop by to discuss issues or just to see the Capitol and the state government at work.

Finally, I would like to invite you to attend the following Saturday legislative updates:

• February 23, 2013, 8 a.m., Café Diem, 2005 S. Ankeny Blvd.

• March 9, 2013, 9 a.m., Neveln Center, 406 S.W. School St.

• March 23, 2013, 8 a.m., Café Diem, 2005 S. Ankeny Blvd.

• April 6, 2013, 9 a.m., Neveln Center, 406 S.W. School St.

• April 27, 2013, 8 a.m., Café Diem, 2005 S. Ankeny Blvd.

Your input on these and other issues are important to me.  Please keep your opinions coming.