As the House adjourned the 2nd session of the 83rd General Assembly, the House Republican Research Staff put together an end of session wrap-up of notable bills in all committees.

2010 End of Session Wrap-up

Teacher salaries are exempted from across the board cuts – now and in the future – through an unprecedented move by legislative Democrats. The special exemption is contained in the Education budget bill.

In addition, Senate Study Bill 3248 (now Senate File 2376) , the Education Appropriation bill, makes teachers the only professionals in the state that will immediately get the name of person filing a complaint against them. Iowa’s 32 other licensing boards don’t release the name unless it becomes a founded complaint.

The implications of exempting teacher pay from an ATB are far reaching.

Continue reading…

Rep. Chambers

Republican Representatives Royd Chambers (R-Sheldon), Annette Sweeney (R-Alden), Jeff Kaufmann (R-Wilton) and Pat Grassley (R-New Hartford) crafted legislation aimed at reforming the Board of Regents and their policies as an attempt to find more budget efficiencies and savings for the state.

“House Republicans took a serious look at ways to save Iowans money and help protect one of Iowa’s most vulnerable groups, it’s students,” said Rep. Royd Chambers. “We think this plan is a step in the right direction.”

Continue reading for the details…

House File 2001 – Expands Levy Authority By Up to $380 million
This bill – cosponsored by key Democrats including the Chair of the House Education Committee and the Speaker of the Iowa House – allows Iowa school districts to shift up to $380 million in heath insurance and benefits onto property taxes.

Under current law health benefits for current school employees must be paid for from the district’s general fund budget. HF 2001 allows districts to shift that cost onto property taxes.

Potential Property Tax Impact: $380 million

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Chet Culver’s hype last week about a “big” surprise for K-12 education fell flat.

In his state-of-the-state message, Culver promised to cover just a fraction of the $540 million “promissory note” looming for K-12 funding.

The $540 million hole in the school aid formula for FY11 was created by two across-the-board cuts, one-time TARP money (federal stimulus) money, 2 percent allowable growth and the statewide voluntary preschool program.

Continue reading for a breakdown of the $540 million funding hole…

Today House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) called the governor’s plan to increase property taxes on Iowans the wrong direction.

“The governor signed the largest amount of spending in the history of Iowa and now that he can no longer sustain his bloated budget, he’s pushing a property tax increase onto the backs of Iowans,” said Paulsen.

With the governor’s recent across the board cut, he reduced the state funding for the K-12 foundation formula by $235 million. This is 10 percent of the amount the state promised school districts on a per pupil basis. However, this cut did not reduce the amount of spending authority districts have. Spending authority allows school districts to spend the allowed amount regardless of the amount of state aid. Ultimately, school districts have no place to find this money other than through increased property taxes.

Continue reading…

The House Republican Staff put together analyses on the Governor’s Across the Board cuts. They can be found under their respective committees in the Bill Analysis section of the site or clicked on from the list below:

10% Across the Board Cut Analyses
Administration and Regulation ATB Cut Analysis
Health and Human Services ATB Cut Analysis
Economic Development ATB Cut Analysis
Natural Resources ATB Cut Analysis
Transportation ATB Cut Analysis
Education ATB Cut Analysis

Gov. Culver’s $238 million cut to Iowa school districts continues to make headlines. School districts keep their spending authority but can recoup the loss by hiking local property taxes to make up the difference.

How did other sectors of education fare? The Board of Regent has until October 29th to separately submit their cuts totaling $60 million. Shortly after Culver announced his cut, the Board offered the possibility of a second semester increase in student fees or “tuition surcharge” to partially offset the loss.

Click to read a breakdown of the cuts in education…

In early September Iowa Republicans rolled out an education agenda calling for strong state standards, high school exit exams and expanded public disclosure of school and district performance.

This week Chad Adelman, a policy analyst at Education Sector, a nonpartisian think tank in Washington, D.C., wrote a guest editorial in the Des Moines Register praising the accountability piece but critcizing the strong state standards and high school exit exams.

Continue reading the case for strong state standards and exit exams…

Today three Republican Representatives came together to argue that during these tough economic times and while tuition increases linger, bonuses for presidents of state universities should not remain a viable option.

Rep. Kaufmann

Rep. Hagenow

Rep. Sweeney

“The discussion of these bonuses along with the creation last winter of a new ($140,000 per year) Chief of Staff position at the University of Iowa, indicates that our Regents universities are completely out of touch with the very taxpayers who fund them,” said Kaufmann.

Rep. Jeff Kaufmann (R-Wilton), a teacher with a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, was joined by Rep. Chris Hagenow (R-Windsor Heights), a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa College of Law, who agrees that granting bonuses for these presidents at this time would be inappropriate.

“Most Iowans are not seeing a bonus or a raise this year. Many families are sacrificing to make ends meet, tightening their belts and living within their means,” said Hagenow.

Last year two House Republicans offered legislation which directed that if tuitions were increased at state schools, then salary increases would not be allowed. Kaufmann is prepared to add bonuses to the bill.

Mother of an Iowa State University student and State Representative Annette Sweeney (R-Alden) questions tuition increases at this time.

“A tuition increase at this time could be devastating for Iowa families. Every state-funded institution must be more vigilant at finding savings. And to even discuss bonuses at this time is certainly disheartening to many Iowans,” said Sweeney.