As the Iowa Legislature completed its work, Iowans wondered what happened to our state. Iowa has long been a beacon of high-quality public schools where students thrived and which parents supported. We were the envy of other states. State government and businesses used our public schools as the main driver of economic development, attracting more businesses and growing our population. Unfortunately, we don’t see that commitment to our public schools anymore. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republican legislators are hurting our once proud public education system with unwarranted attacks and years of underfunding.
During the past two legislative sessions, the systematic attacks on Iowa’s public schools and education professionals reached a fever pitch. Last year, a massive private school voucher will eventually shift $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to private schools. These private schools educate less than 10% of Iowa’s students and are not required to meet the same curriculum and student support standards as our public schools. Imagine what $1 billion in new money could do for the 90% (half a million) children attending our public schools.
The 2023 legislative session also included a law banning books from our public schools if they did not meet the political and social agenda of the governor and Republicans in the Iowa Legislature. Fortunately, that law is on hold thanks to ISEA, Penguin-Random House Publishing, four authors, three Iowa educators, an Iowa student, and a parent filing litigation to stop it. Our children and families deserve to have a choice in what they want and do not want to read, not politicians at the Capitol.
In this session, Reynolds and Republican legislators redesigned Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs). Despite receiving overwhelming support from thousands of Iowans for their local AEA professionals and services, politicians in Des Moines refused to listen. The AEAs have been instrumental in leveling the playing field for students and families for the past 50 years. Now, these vital services will be unevenly distributed, dependent on the availability of private companies and the limitations of Department of Education bureaucrats in Des Moines. This could potentially harm the education of thousands of Iowa children, a situation that should deeply concern us all.
In the waning hours of the legislative session, a bill passed implementing a prescriptive social studies curriculum to inject politics into our classrooms. Decisions about curriculum and instruction are best made locally by individual school districts, leadership, and education professionals rather than top-down mandates created by politicians without educational expertise.
Also passed this session was a new alternative teacher certification program that every single public education stakeholder group has opposed for years. People receiving this certification will not be required to have special training in Early Childhood Development, Special Education, and other intense and special instruction needed to provide students with a high-quality education.
Finally, a bill to arm school staff and introduce weapons into our public schools was passed. With school board approval, the bill makes it legal for any school employee to anonymously apply for and be granted a permit to carry a gun to school. This information would be kept from school administrators, colleagues, parents, and student guardians. Our public schools need proven strategies, health resources, additional qualified adults, and improved safety measures, not more guns.
There was one bit of support for educators during this session: raising first-year and 12-year veteran salaries for education professionals and $14 million for schools to raise education support professional pay. The ISEA has long advocated for better wages and pay for education professionals. Unfortunately, these new dollars are only a tiny piece of the pie for supporting our public schools.
Dismantling our public education system will only drive more educators away from this noble profession. We need to support educators and not make their jobs more difficult. We need to respect their work and expertise. We need to come together and stop the destruction of our public schools. ISEA will fight hard during our November elections to ensure pro-public education candidates are elevated and win. Our children deserve better. We hope you will join us in this fight!
Coy Marquardt is executive director of the Iowa State Education Association. He is a former educator from Eastern Iowa and worked for the ISEA as a field director and associate executive director for more than 15 years.
