Week four at the Capitol brought frustration due to the de-appropriations bill and inadequate school funding proposal. This past Monday brought the first floor debate in the House Chamber, and the first votes. The Senate had sent a bill to the House that would take out $118 million in de-appropriations to the budget for this fiscal year. After intense debate the House also voted to approve the cuts to state programs and agencies, and the bill was signed by Gov. Branstad on Wednesday. Democrats made impassioned pleas during the evening debate to reduce the cuts that will hit the three Board of Regents universities ($18 million in cuts) and the state's community colleges ($3 million). The current-year cuts will not affect tuition rates for the 2017-18 academic year; the future year's tuition will depend on next year's funding levels. Other cuts include: The entire $6.1 million budget of the Iowa Cultural Trust Fund, $5.5 million to the Department of Corrections, $1 million from the Department of Public Safety and $3 million from the judicial branch.
Many argued that the state has spent too much providing tax credits to corporations over the past several years and has left itself unable to fund key priorities. We need to evaluate these tax credits and ensure they are effective in creating economic growth.
I finalized the drafting of a bill that would require inpatient mental health facilities to participate in the psychiatric bed tracking system to report the number of beds available to persons suffering with mental illness and substance abuse disorders. Currently it is optional for mental health facilities to report this information. Our local hospitals find it difficult to locate available beds because it’s not mandatory to list the beds on the state-funded database that was designed for this purpose. Individuals are suffering and not getting the services they deserve when they are waiting in emergency rooms.
Democrats and education lobbyists reacted to Republicans’ proposal to increase state aid for K-12 public schools by $40 million with disappointment and outrage Monday at the state capitol. $40 million represents an increase of just 1.1 percent. Many educators insisted that at least a 3-4 percent increase is needed. In addition to the smaller than expected increase, the very short time between the House Republicans’ announcement of the proposal and the vote was just a few hours. Democratic lawmakers had no time to analyze the ramifications of a 1.1 percent increase in their districts’ schools. Rural schools could be greatly impacted with bussing, consolidation and even possible closure concerns.
After years of underfunding, we know schools have reached the tipping point and more schools will close if the Republican plan is approved. Iowa superintendents said a few weeks ago in a survey that any funding increase at 2 percent or less would force schools to: raise class size (71 percent); layoff teachers (61 percent); delay textbook purchases (65 percent); and reduce class offerings for kids (58 percent).
Republicans also said earlier this year that they are crafting a voucher bill to shift hundreds of millions in tax dollars from public schools to homeschools and private schools. While it's clear public education is no longer the top priority of Republican lawmakers, I believe it's time to make our public schools first again. It's no coincidence Republicans are now spending more than $500 million in new corporate tax giveaways starting this year while their funding plan for half a million public school kids is less than 1/10th of that for next year.
Contact Rep. Wes Breckenridgeat
641-521-6714 or
wes.breckenridge@legis.iowa.gov