Iowa House Passes Governor's Education Reform Bill

Our focus in the Iowa House during the week of Feb. 18 was to pass the Governor’s Education Reform Bill (House File 215). We debated the bill and amendments until midnight on Tuesday, Feb. 19, and passed it Wednesday morning for consideration in the Senate.   

Innovative  

This plan focuses state education spending on achievement-driven reforms that align our investments with practices and programs that have demonstrated improved student performance.  We are investing in a strategy that brings the best practices of high-performing school districts, to all of our schools.    We know that every school district across the state has different needs and faces different challenges.  In this plan, there is flexibility built in which allows local districts to implement innovative systems that best fit their own district.    The proposal 1) implements home rule authority to empower locally-elected school boards and 2) gives parents more input in the process.  

Supplemental State Aid – formerly known as Allowable Growth  

Two percent (2%) supplemental state aid had near unanimous support in the Iowa House.  This is a record investment in Iowa schools and teachers – at full implementation it would be an investment between $160 and $190 million.  

• Ends the automatic property tax increase caused by allowable growth
• Property tax relief for all Iowans, and for all classes of property
• This is just one piece of a multi-pronged effort on property tax relief, with future work on commercial and industrial property taxes and funding of property tax credits
• The Iowa Senate recently passed a proposal which would use state funds to pay for allowable growth – this proposal uses General Fund dollars and makes it permanent
• Rather than 12.5% of new allowable growth dollars being raised through property taxes, all the allowable growth will be funded by state aid
• Second effort effectively frozen at current level of $750
• Uniform levy remains the same
• Effect is that the foundation level gradually increases from 87.5%.  Speed of increase is determined by pace of “supplemental state aid” each year.

Education community supporters include:  Professional Educators of Iowa, Board of Regents, Board of Educational Examiners, Iowa College Student Aid Commission, Urban Education Network, Iowa Assn of School Boards, Students First, Iowa Association of Christian Schools, Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators, Iowa Department of Education.   Other supports include job creators such as:  3M, DuPont, John Deere, Wellmark, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Association of Business and Industry, Hy-Vee, and the Iowa Chamber Alliance.