Lawmakers see little consensus over education
Comments (...)DES MOINES (AP) — Key parts of Gov. Terry Branstad’s plan to overhaul Iowa schools appear to be in jeopardy as lawmakers started Wednesday on crafting their response to his proposal.
Lawmakers from both parties are raising questions about Branstad’s proposed testing requirement for 11th-graders and his plan to ensure third-graders meet certain criteria before being moved up to the next grade.
“The third-grade retention is, on both sides of the aisle and bipartisan, something we’re not interested in for the simple reason that as an educator if you haven’t caught a reading problem by the first grade, there’s a red flag,” said Sen. Brian Schoenjahn, D-Arlington. “Instead of spending all this money on testing, we should spend it on summer sessions or some other remediation.”
The governor has offered a $25 million plan that would toughen standards for teachers and boost testing requirements for students. Branstad’s plan would require third-graders not ready at grade level to be held back. All 11th-graders would be given standardized college entrance exams like the ACT.
Rep. Cecil Dolecheck, R-Mount Ayr, who heads a House budget panel on schools, questioned the 11th-grade testing requirement.
“I don’t know how vital that is, other than the fact that it’s kind of a measure against other students and other schools,” Dolecheck said.
Branstad has proposed that all high school juniors take college entrance exams to measure their progress.
Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said there’s a bipartisan consensus to toughen early elementary programs, but no consensus on the social promotion issue.
“We have 40 years of research that shows retention of third-graders is not the way to go,” said Rep. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, who sits on the House budget panel overseeing schools. “It is important for them to succeed but the actual retention does more harm than good.”
Dolecheck said there’s some value in holding back a third-grader who hasn’t demonstrated reading skills, if only to drive home a message to parents about the importance of making sure their children’s educational needs are met beyond the classroom.
“We need more parental involvement, and this is the driver in this that’s basically telling a parent that you need to realize the school can’t do it all,” he said.
There seems to be little consensus in the Legislature about education issues in general during this election year. That was underscored Wednesday when the Senate Education Committee approved a plan giving local schools an extra $122 million for the 2013-2014 school year, but Republicans who hold a majority in the House say they won’t approve such a plan. They intend to stick by a two-year budget approved last year.
Schoenjahn said it makes little sense to issue standardized tests to high school juniors who are nearing the end of their secondary education. He said it would be more suitable to have the testing occur in the ninth grade.
“What about the kids who don’t want to go to college, who want to go to a community college or go into the (military) service or something?” Schoenjahn said. “That’s an expensive test.”
Gronstal said roughly 60 percent of high school students in the state take the ACT, and he noted it would cost about $1.5 million to give the test to all high school students.
“That really doesn’t make sense,” he said. “There’s some reluctance to spend the money for something like that.”
“We have to make sure we’re not throwing our tax money away,” Schoenjahn added.
Winckler called for other measures for students.
“Depending on their career choices, there are assessments they can take,” Winckler said. “Why are we forcing that 40 percent who aren’t already taking it to take it where it has no relevance to them?”
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