DES MOINES — Iowa school districts are holding more than $145 million in their accounts, but superintendents say restrictions on that money is making it hard to spend.
The money in dozens of different funds has grown since 2013 when the total was about $130 million, so school officials are lobbying for more flexibility.
Iowa State Board of Education member Mary Ellen Miller says the legislature should consider loosening the restrictions on this money.
“It doesn’t make much sense to have this money sitting in banks around the state,” Miller said.
But some lawmakers say the districts should just spend the money for the purpose it was intended.
“It’s there for a purpose, it needs to be used for the purpose — not sitting on it,” said Brian Schoenjahn, D-Arlington, chairman of the Senate subcommittee that governs education spending.
State data shows that about half of the state’s 338 school districts had at least one fund with a balance of more than $50,000 at the end of the 2014-15 school year.