After signing into law a transformational $340 million program for public assistance for private school costs this year, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Thursday she plans to address Iowa public school teacher salaries during the next legislative session.
Reynolds said she already has been working on public teacher salaries with an eye to next year, as an extension of the myriad pieces of K-12 education policy passed during the recently concluded 2023 session of the Iowa Legislature.
Reynolds said she has been told by rural school administrators that the issue of teacher salaries is especially critical in their districts.
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“They weren’t able to pay, a lot of times, as much as some of the more urban school districts were able to pay,” Reynolds said, while highlighting legislation passed this session that provided some regulatory flexibility for school districts to use more funding sources to pay for teachers’ salaries.
“We’ve given them a mechanism to do that right now. And then we’ll take a look at that next year … continue to work on teachers’ salaries moving forward,” she said.
Iowa’s average full-time teacher salary in the 2022-23 school year was just above $63,000, according to state education department data.
In the 2021-22 school year, the average was $59,581, which put Iowa 27th in the nation, according to the National Education Association.
Reynolds made the comments while discussing education and myriad other topics while recording her appearance on this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.
Reynolds said she does not feel that reports of some Iowa private schools increasing tuition weakens the state’s new financial assistance program.
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The state program will provide the equivalent of the state’s per-pupil public school funding — roughly $7,600 next year — to the families of Iowa students who wish to attend a private school. Since the education savings accounts were signed into law, some private schools have announced increases in their tuition fees for the coming school year.
Asked if those tuition increases lessen the impact of the new program, Reynolds said, “I don’t think so.” But she also said she will keep an eye on it.
“Any time you pass transformative legislation like we just did, a lot of times there’s cleanup that needs to happen in the follow-up years. So we’ll continue to monitor that,” she said.
Reynolds has not yet signed into law legislation, passed by Republican lawmakers, that would restrict some information that the state auditor’s office can access during an audit investigation.
The bill also eliminates the ability for the office to challenge the decision of a three-member arbitration panel to settle disputes over the auditor’s access to information. The arbitration panel’s ruling would be final, with the auditor no longer able to challenge the decision in court.
The arbitration panel is comprised of the auditor’s office, the state department or agency that is being investigated, and a representative of the governor’s office.
Critics of the legislation include the National State Auditors Association, the Institute of Internal Auditors, and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, who served under both Democratic and Republican presidents.
Iowa’s current state auditor, Rob Sand, is the lone Democrat in a statewide elected office. Critics of the bill have called it a politically motivated power grab.
“The auditor’s office is part of the executive branch. And I think Iowans expect the executive branch to be able to work things out. It puts a process in place that allows us to do that,” Reynolds said.
“If my agencies have some conflict, we bring them in, we set them down, and we ask them to work it out. And … to go to the courts, to have executive branch agencies competing against each other, the taxpayers have to pay for it twice,” she said.
“And I just don’t think it’s unreasonable that we can’t come to some resolution through the arbitration process.”
Reynolds said she will try again next year to convince state lawmakers to pass her proposal to make birth control accessible through a pharmacist without a doctor’s visit. The proposal passed the Republican-led Iowa Senate this session, but not the Republican-led Iowa House
“Hopefully, we can continue to work with the legislators and continue to educate them and talk about why we believe it’s the right thing to do,” Reynolds said.
“We’ve tried a lot of different paths to get there, and we haven’t been successful yet. I love a challenge. So we’ll keep working on it. And, hopefully, we’ll get that across the finish line.”
After Republican state lawmakers gave the governor’s office more freedom to set the salaries of state department and agency heads, via a massive executive reorganization plan, Reynolds said Thursday the state budget is what will limit how high those salaries can go.
“The budget is the constraints,” she said. “And that’s the pitch that I made to the legislators: They have the ultimate decision by setting the budget. If I increase the salaries of the directors that I’ve asked to serve in that capacity, it has to fit within their overall budget.”
www.thegazette.com
Reynolds said she already has been working on public teacher salaries with an eye to next year, as an extension of the myriad pieces of K-12 education policy passed during the recently concluded 2023 session of the Iowa Legislature.
Reynolds said she has been told by rural school administrators that the issue of teacher salaries is especially critical in their districts.
Advertisement
“They weren’t able to pay, a lot of times, as much as some of the more urban school districts were able to pay,” Reynolds said, while highlighting legislation passed this session that provided some regulatory flexibility for school districts to use more funding sources to pay for teachers’ salaries.
“We’ve given them a mechanism to do that right now. And then we’ll take a look at that next year … continue to work on teachers’ salaries moving forward,” she said.
Iowa’s average full-time teacher salary in the 2022-23 school year was just above $63,000, according to state education department data.
In the 2021-22 school year, the average was $59,581, which put Iowa 27th in the nation, according to the National Education Association.
Reynolds made the comments while discussing education and myriad other topics while recording her appearance on this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.
Reynolds keeping an eye on private school tuition
Reynolds said she does not feel that reports of some Iowa private schools increasing tuition weakens the state’s new financial assistance program.
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The state program will provide the equivalent of the state’s per-pupil public school funding — roughly $7,600 next year — to the families of Iowa students who wish to attend a private school. Since the education savings accounts were signed into law, some private schools have announced increases in their tuition fees for the coming school year.
Asked if those tuition increases lessen the impact of the new program, Reynolds said, “I don’t think so.” But she also said she will keep an eye on it.
“Any time you pass transformative legislation like we just did, a lot of times there’s cleanup that needs to happen in the follow-up years. So we’ll continue to monitor that,” she said.
Defending bill to constrain state auditor
Reynolds has not yet signed into law legislation, passed by Republican lawmakers, that would restrict some information that the state auditor’s office can access during an audit investigation.
The bill also eliminates the ability for the office to challenge the decision of a three-member arbitration panel to settle disputes over the auditor’s access to information. The arbitration panel’s ruling would be final, with the auditor no longer able to challenge the decision in court.
The arbitration panel is comprised of the auditor’s office, the state department or agency that is being investigated, and a representative of the governor’s office.
Critics of the legislation include the National State Auditors Association, the Institute of Internal Auditors, and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, who served under both Democratic and Republican presidents.
Iowa’s current state auditor, Rob Sand, is the lone Democrat in a statewide elected office. Critics of the bill have called it a politically motivated power grab.
“The auditor’s office is part of the executive branch. And I think Iowans expect the executive branch to be able to work things out. It puts a process in place that allows us to do that,” Reynolds said.
“If my agencies have some conflict, we bring them in, we set them down, and we ask them to work it out. And … to go to the courts, to have executive branch agencies competing against each other, the taxpayers have to pay for it twice,” she said.
“And I just don’t think it’s unreasonable that we can’t come to some resolution through the arbitration process.”
Planning another go at behind-the-counter birth control
Reynolds said she will try again next year to convince state lawmakers to pass her proposal to make birth control accessible through a pharmacist without a doctor’s visit. The proposal passed the Republican-led Iowa Senate this session, but not the Republican-led Iowa House
“Hopefully, we can continue to work with the legislators and continue to educate them and talk about why we believe it’s the right thing to do,” Reynolds said.
“We’ve tried a lot of different paths to get there, and we haven’t been successful yet. I love a challenge. So we’ll keep working on it. And, hopefully, we’ll get that across the finish line.”
Giving more leeway in setting state agency directors’ salaries
After Republican state lawmakers gave the governor’s office more freedom to set the salaries of state department and agency heads, via a massive executive reorganization plan, Reynolds said Thursday the state budget is what will limit how high those salaries can go.
“The budget is the constraints,” she said. “And that’s the pitch that I made to the legislators: They have the ultimate decision by setting the budget. If I increase the salaries of the directors that I’ve asked to serve in that capacity, it has to fit within their overall budget.”
Gov. Reynolds says she plans to address teachers’ salaries in ’24 session
The governor said she does not feel that reports of some Iowa private schools increasing tuition weakens the state’s new financial assistance program
www.thegazette.com
