Priorities in education

Most of the legislative priorities set forth by the Newton Community School District Board of Education nearly two months ago align with the proposed goals by Iowa Association of School Boards, with one exception: preschools.

After looking through a list of legislative concerns regarding education in August, the NCSD school board was tasked with developing its own list of three to five priorities to share with their fellow members. The list would later be submitted to IASB, a nonprofit committed to developing strategies and core values for school boards and public schools across the state to operate more efficiently.

NCSD Superintendent Bob Callaghan said he had also given copies to local elected officials such as Rep. Wes Breckenridge of Iowa House District 29, who was in attendance during Monday night’s school board meeting and was welcomed to discuss legislative topics.

Of the four proposed priorities IASB has narrowed down for 2020, three matched the NCSD Board of Education’s top five list: mental health, school funding policy and supplemental state aid. The four IASB priorities are listed in numerical order and do not have a hierarchical ranking system.

The NCSD school board determined mental health was its top legislative priority, followed closely by teacher leadership and development, school funding policy, supplemental state aid and unfunded mandates.

“Preschool was the only one that fell outside of our top five that we talked about,” Robyn Friedman, school board president, said.

According to school board agenda documents, the preschool legislative priority “supports continued funding to ensure that all 4-year-olds have access to the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program.”

The Iowa Department of Education says the program ensures children enter classrooms ready to learn “by expanding voluntary access to quality preschool curricula,” the funds of which improve access into early childhood education, make the program more sustainable and increase the number of participants.

The IASB preschool priority also supports an increase in funding from the current weighting from 0.5 to 1.0 full-time equivalent, thereby increasing districts’ abilities to provide services “such as full-day programming and transportation to ensure that all 4-year-olds have the ability to attend the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program.”

IASB believes school districts should be given maximum flexibility to assign costs to the program.

From a superintendent’s perspective, Callaghan said he would like to know how his school board members feel about the preschool priority, suggesting it seems to be a concern across the state. Friedman had questions regarding the board’s support of the preschool priority.

“If we are supporting that increased funding from 0.5 to 1.0 full-time equivalent, is that how we would run our preschool differently also? Is that a need that we have?” Friedman asked. Adding to that, school board member Graham Sullivan confirmed the preschool funding would be targeted toward families under a certain socioeconomic status.

Callaghan said, “I will tell you one of the most frequent questions that we receive in this office is, ‘Is there room available in your preschool?’ So this would really change the component for the Newton Community School District, specifically for students who are 4-year-olds. They would in fact receive 1.0 funding to attend a full day of preschool.”

Friedman noted if the school board supported the priority, the school district is still given maximum flexibility to assign costs to the program. However, school board member Donna Cook said the school district’s preschools are limited by its number of classrooms and class size. Sullivan agreed and suggested more issues would have to be looked at.

Pivoting to the remaining the priorities, which the NCSD Board of Education identified as prime legislative concerns in its district, Breckenridge claimed Iowa has “room for improvement” when it comes to supplemental state aid. IASB supports state aid at a rate that “sufficiently supports local districts’ efforts to plan, create and sustain world-class schools.”

Friedman said she liked the specifics listed in IASB’s mental health priority to help lobbyists specifically talk to representatives and senators about what the board would like to see be put into mental health legislation.

According to IASB information, the mental health resolution “supports efforts to establish community mental health systems to offer preventative and treatment services and comprehensive school mental health programs.”

Some of the programs IASB lists are:

• In-school and telehealth access for students to mental health professionals

• Creation of a categorical funding stream designated for mental health professionals

• Reimbursement by Medicaid and private insurers for in-school services

• Ongoing teacher, administrator and support staff training to improve awareness and understanding of child emotional and mental health needs

• Integration of suicide prevention and coping skills into existing curriculum

• Expanding state-funded loan forgiveness programs to include mental health professionals who agree to provide services to schools

• An ongoing mental health resources clearinghouse for schools and community providers

“I don’t know that we’ve been that specific with that before, so I think that’s helping draw what that picture looks like. Because I know that that’s been something our district, our town has been working on closely. If we can’t do something of those things and have the funding to be able to do that, that initiative doesn’t move forward at the rate that we need,” Friedman said.

School board member Travis Padget cautioned he doesn’t want schools to become the mental health provider.

“That’s my one concern,” he said. “The more we set out what we would need and more specifics on it, it comes across as a little bit more that we are willing to become that community mental health center for our kids. I understand we need to provide that for our students but I don’t want it to become the expected career of a teacher to also be a mental health worker.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com