Legislative Advocacy

Legislative Advocacy

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of going to Des Moines with two of our board members and our student board member along with representatives from 9 other area districts to meet with legislators on school related issues.  Our primary focus was advocating for extending the SAVE and Operational Sharing funding, Education Savings Accounts, and a little about Supplemental State Aid.  

The SAVE funding is important to the New Hampton District.  We use it for everything from purchasing buses, technology, and major repairs on our facilities to helping pay down the cost of the bonds on our new building.  It is set to expire in 2029 and everyone we talked to believes it will be extended as it is important to all districts.  We've heard this previously, so it was good to know that feeling is still out there.  Hopefully, they take care of it during this session.  

Operational Sharing is another item that is important for the New Hampton District.  The state provides an incentive to districts who share positions.  The goal is to encourage districts to work together to find ways to save funds and provide positive partnerships going forward.  In New Hampton, we share several positions including the superintendent.  The state gives us so many students for each position we share, for example, because we share the superintendent, we are given the funding equivalent to 8 additional students.  This year each of those students are worth $6,664 or $53,312 in additional funding.  The Turkey Valley district receives the same amount as well.  With declining enrollment and the funding concerns at the state, this helps both districts tremendously as we move forward.  Without it, the districts would probably not be sharing positions between districts.  

Education Savings Accounts are being considered by the state legislature.  These are strongly favored by school choice advocates as they believe every student should get to choose whatever school they want, including private schools.  Instead of private schools being open to only those who can afford to pay, they feel these accounts would allow more students into private schools who normally may not be able to afford them.  A little explanation is in order.  They used to talk about school vouchers, but those have generally been ruled unconstitutional as the state cannot give public funds directly to parochial schools.  To get around this, they have come up with the idea of Education Savings Accounts or ESAs in which the money is deposited in an account for each student/family and then the family can decide how the money is spent--following the guidelines and laws passed by the legislature.  I have a couple of concerns with this.  

First, I believe in school choice.  Parents are the only people who are truly qualified to determine what's right for their child when it comes to education.  I know many parents who homeschool their children and do a fabulous job at it.  They have selected a system that works for them and it works great.  I know many of you who choose to send your child to St. Joe's here in town.  That is a great school that does a great job for its students.  I'm really impressed in the way they work hard to find ways to get everyone into that school who wants to go there in spite of any financial concerns with the student's family.  I am familiar with other private schools in the state where that is not the case.  Which brings me to my first concern.  State finances are tight.  We are all aware of that and as a school leader I'm not expecting any additional funding from the state this year.  They only have so many dollars to work with and this year there is just not much.  By adding these savings accounts at this time, this will only add to the costs the state must bear and it will do nothing but increase over time.  If there is an idea to either raise taxes to pay for it or they have in mind some cuts that will be made to pay for it, then I'm willing to look at it.  However, it's dangerous to start paying for a new program with no plan on how to pay for it going forward.  I've read the initial legislation and see how they feel it will be minimal to start, but to keep it going will cost more dollars each year.  

Second, since these are taxpayer dollars which will indirectly be going to private schools I feel it's important that we're all on the same playing field.  In other words, all private schools should be required to have the same expectations as public schools.  Public schools welcome all students no matter their backgrounds and provide a wide variety of opportunities and experiences for them.  Will all private schools be required to do the same?  I feel our local parochial school does a great job of this, but there are others who only take "certain" students.  If a student is too much trouble or having difficulty, they currently can be sent back to the public school system.  I feel if public dollars are being used, this should no longer be an option.  In addition, we have public school building report cards where all public schools can be compared across the state to see how we're doing.  This is about transparency and a good thing.  I would assume with taxpayer dollars going to private schools the same information would be publicly shared about the private schools as well.  Otherwise, the accountability for the taxpayer funds is minimized.  

We have a great parochial school in St. Joe's and they do a great job with their students and it sure looks like they try to find a way for every student to attend who wants to.  We have a great relationship with them and work well together.  On the other side are private schools that do only take "certain" kids or put in place certain policies/procedures to keep some students out of their schools.  If Education Savings Account come into play and taxpayer funds start going to these schools, it only seems reasonable that the same oversight and expectations would be put in place for these schools as is done for public schools.  

Finally, we talked a little about Supplemental State Aid.  As I previously mentioned, the state doesn't have a lot of money right now so it's not realistic to expect much if anything in new money for next year.  If you have any questions on any of this, please feel free to contact me via email or the superintendent's office.  j_jurrens@new-hampton.k12.ia.us or 641-392-2134.