March 28, 2024

Education funding moving forward, but not enough

Stay in Touch

Education funding: Two bills have been put forward by the majority party concerning education funding for FYH 2020.

HF306 puts School Supplemental Aid (SSA) funding at 2.06 percent. HF 307 makes appropriations to the transportation equity fund. Rural schools have greater busing costs because they serve fewer students per square mile. Without those funds, rural schools districts must pay transportation costs at the expense of education. I’m pleased to see this transportation equity bill that would give greater parity to rural areas.

But HF 306 which gives just above 2 percent SSA, while moving in the right direction above the 1 percent of past years, falls short in helping our schools catch up from the downward trend we have seen over the previous years. This is about ensuring our children’s future success, which leads to Iowa’s continued success.

Sports wagering: Betting on sports has historically been illegal in most states, but in May of last year, the Supreme Court struck down laws that prohibit betting. Some states have since passed legislation to allow sports betting in their states, and many others are considering it, including Iowa.

This week Iowa took the first steps in making it legal here. Two subcommittees were scheduled to review proposed legislation. In Iowa, different stakeholders want to administer sports betting that may become legal in Iowa: casinos, major league sports, online fantasy sports, and the Iowa Lottery. Presently, there are three different bills under discussion. In an unusual move, the different bills submitted involving each proposed stakeholder were up for discussion in the same subcommittee meetings. The House bills are in the House State Government Committee; the chair of this committee says he is hopeful a single way forward will be developed in the coming weeks.

One of the bills would have Iowa’s 19 commercial casinos run the betting process, with Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission supervising the casino operations. This bill is supported by the Iowa Gaming Association and proposes that individuals come to a casino to register to play on a mobile phone. After registering, bets could be placed anywhere in Iowa remotely using a phone. Wagering would be on both professional and college sports.

Another bill envisions major league sports organizations administer the betting operations. They would collect fees for the bets placed on their games. This bill would also establish a wagering structure for online fantasy sports. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association, MLB and NBA support this bill.

A third bill put forward has the Iowa Lottery oversee a more limited sports betting operation in convenience stores and supermarkets, wherever lottery tickets are now sold.

Wes Ehrecke, president and CEO of the Iowa Gaming Association, indicated it’s difficult to craft a single bill that will collectively please all the interested stakeholders. States that have allowed betting since the Supreme Court’s decision have taken different approaches. We look forward to hearing from all sides of this issue as it moves forward.