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Representative Ro Foege
Report from the Iowa Legislature
February 22, 2004
Allowable Growth
In a whirlwind of legislative maneuvering, the majority party eliminated all the normal checks and balances to approve a K-12 school district funding bill last week. The bill sped through the process so fast that few parents, board members or educators had the opportunity to express their concerns. It appeared that the leadership of the majority party was looking for a way to dispose of the bill quickly before the education community found out how bad it was.
The bill passed the Iowa House by a vote of 53-47 in straight party line voting. I voted against the bill. It establishes an Allowable Growth rate for the 2005-2006 school year, modifies funding for the 2004-2005 school year, reduces funding for the Area Education Agencies, and repeals "forward funding" of the state school foundation program.
The bill provides a two percent increase in state support for the 2004-05 and the 2005-06 school years. This is far short of the four percent in growth recommended by the Governor or the six percent sought by educators. The state spends nearly $1.9 billion a year to educate our kids, an enormous amount of money. However, that is not much more than schools received five years ago. The fact is that state aid to schools has increased only 4% the past five years.
A two percent Allowable Growth for the 2005-2006 school year is grossly inadequate. Our schools will not be able to maintain current levels of service and student achievement with that level of state support. Requiring our schools to establish the purchase of textbooks and supplies as their top spending priority does damage to the principle of local control and makes absolutely no sense as a matter of education policy.
Iowa schools and the Area Education Agencies are currently struggling to comply with the mandates of the federal “No Child Left Behind.” Reducing funding to our AEAs will make that struggle even more difficult. The repeal of "forward funding" of our schools is a wrong policy choice. It will make the budgeting process by local school boards even more difficult. It will make collective bargaining less harmonious and more expensive.
Governor Vilsack has indicated that he will veto the bill. With the Governor’s anticipated veto, we may get another chance to do it right. By working together, we can craft a school funding bill that maintains the high standards that Iowans have come to expect.
The gambling debate will begin this week. We are scheduled to debate a massive gambling bill in the Iowa House on Thursday. The Iowa Supreme Court threw out Iowa’s two-tiered tax structure for riverboats and racetracks, and lawmakers must replace it. We will debate the possibility of expanding gambling in the state by authorizing new licenses or allowing table games at the racetrack casinos. The bill is complex and contains many positive and negative provisions.
I am opposed to the expansion of gambling in Iowa. However, I will be supporting some of the provisions such as prohibiting cash and credit card machines in the wagering or gaming area of boats and tracks, and I will support increasing the amount of dollars dedicated to the treatment of addicted gamblers.
The gambling debate will be very interesting, because it is complex and also because it is a non-partisan issue. The outcome of the vote is uncertain. No gambling bill in the Iowa Legislature has ever passed with more than the bare minimum of votes.
I look forward to hearing from constituents about the work of the Iowa Legislature.
You can write me at the State Capitol, Des
Moines, IA 50319; call 515/281-7328 or e-mail me at
ro.foege@legis.state.ia.us.
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