Area school board members, superintendents meet with legislators

        Abdouramane Bila, a Clear Creek-Amana School Board member, makes a point during a school board in-service meeting held at the Michael J. Manatt Center in Brooklyn on Thursday, Jan. 30. The meeting was hosted by the BGM and HLV schools.

By .O. Parker
 
         The BGM and HLV School districts hosted a board in-service session at the Michael J. Manatt Community Center in Brooklyn on Thursday, Jan. 30. This is an annual event where area school superintendents and their board members are invited to take part in an open discussion with legislators representing each district.
      The event drew about 30 attendees including superintendents and board members from BGM, Belle Plaine, Clear Creek-Amana, English Valleys, Grinnell-Newburg, HLV, Iowa Valley, Montezuma, North Mahaska, Tri-County and Williamsburg. Invited but not in attendance was Benton, Keota and Lynnville-Sully representatives.
        The evening began with a pork loin dinner served by the Brooklyn Ruritan Club. Following dinner, there was a legislative forum. The legislators present were Jon Dunwell, House District 38; Thomas Gerhold, House District 84; Dawn Driscoll, Senate District 46; and Judd Lawler, House District 91.
One of the main topics discussed was property taxes.
        All the legislators talked about making changes to the property tax system in Iowa. They all spoke of the need for changes, but no further information was outlined in the meeting.
      “This could have an impact on our schools as much of our funding comes from property taxes,” noted Montezuma Superintendent Rich Schulte.
        A board member with the Clear Creek Amana School District encouraged the legislators to make sure that if there are bills that impact the education system that there is plenty of input sought from educators in the system.
       It was also noted that the Iowa Senate has proposed a two percent SSA (State Supplemental Assistance) for education for fiscal year 2026, while the Iowa House is battling for at least 2.5 percent SSA.
       Schulte noted after the meeting that the proposed SSA still doesn’t keep up with inflation. He said that during 14 of the last 15 years, the SSA rate has been lower than the cost increase that schools have experienced.
      There was also some discussion on the governor’s cell phone policy in schools. Governor Reynolds is asking that there be no cell phones used during instructional time. At Montezuma, Schulte said the district already has a policy in place that aligns with the governor’s wishes.
       School start date was another topic of discussion. Current law requires schools to start on or after Aug. 23. School districts are looking for some flexibility in that law to allow the start date to be the Monday or Tuesday following the end of the Iowa State Fair. This year, the state fair will end on Sunday, Aug. 17.
        Another topic of discussion was chronic absenteeism. It was noted that a revision of the law was needed to allow districts to have more flexibility with local decision making regarding this issue.
     A final topic discussed was economic development, especially in small town Iowa. This includes new businesses, jobs, housing and available healthcare.
      Some others issues discussed included eminent domain, taking steps to protect children in the court system, bird flu, school choice, home schooling and fully funding 4-year-old preschool.
       In closing, Michelle Johnson, government relations director with the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB), updated area board members and superintendents on the bills currently related to education that are being talked about in the house and senate.
       “It is really helpful to have board members and superintendents gather in one place early in the session, particularly if they let us know what policies need to be tweaked,” noted Lawler, house district 91. “For example, several school leaders talked about challenges they are facing with the new absenteeism policy, and they gave us some specific things that they think could improve. I have already reached out to other members of the House to advocate for our schools based on what they told us.”
       Editor’s note: Montezuma Superintendent Rich Schulte assisted with this article.