Posts Tagged ‘Education’

Educators: Make Iowa Kids a Priority

Educators from across Iowa called for the Governor and legislators to make kids a priority in the state budget this year. Republicans want zero growth for schools next year while Democrats are fighting for a modest 2% increase for schools.

Here is the latest from Radio Iowa:

The state’s educators are sending an urgent message to state policymakers. Groups representing teachers, school administrators, Area Education Agencies and school boards organized a statehouse news conference this morning, asking legislators to quickly forward more state support to Iowa’s public K-through-12 schools.

By law, legislators and the governor are supposed to set the level of general state aid for public schools in early February, but Democrats have proposed a two percent increase, while Republicans say the state’s in bad financial shape and schools shouldn’t get any increase at all. The two sides can’t strike a compromise.

Brent Siegrist , executive director of the state’s nine Area Education Agencies, is a Republican who used to be Speaker of the Iowa House.

“It’s time to act,” Siegrist says. “You have thousands of educators out there, hanging in the wind out there, wondering if they’re going to get a pink slip.” Chris Bern of the Iowa State Education Association says the state teachers’ union estimates Iowa’s public schools will send pink slips to 15-hundred teachers and other school employees by the end of this school year.

“Cedar Rapids is eliminating 61 positions. Council Bluffs is eliminating 50. Iowa City is eliminating 60. Sioux City is eliminating 106 positions, which represents over 10 percent of their workforce,” Bern said. “And the list will continue to grow.” John Speer, superintendent of the Ballard Community School District, is a member of the School Administrators of Iowa.

“In Iowa, education and our children have always been our priority,” he says. “…We need to, in a bipartisan effort, work with schools, school boards, teachers, the governor and the legislature to make kids a priority again in Iowa.” Perry Schools Superintendent Lynn Ubben made a million dollars’ worth of cuts last year in the budget for her district and she predicts class sizes in elementary grades will swell and course offerings will diminish.

“It is our hope that the legislature and governor make the education of our Iowa children a priority,” Ubben said. Educators are urging the legislature to provide two percent more in general state aid to schools for the school year that starts this fall. Cedar Rapids Superintendent David Benson warned property owners in 277 school districts will see their taxes go up if the Republicans win this debate and schools get no additional money.

“As a flood-affected city still recovering from the devastating June, 2008 floods, our patrons are particularly sensitive to tax rate,” Benson said. Siegrist, the former Republican legislator who runs the state’s Area Education Agencies, says it appears to him there is room in a $6-billion state budget to provide about $55-million more for schools and cut taxes.

“It requires some tough decisions,” Siegrist says, “but they can do both.” According to Siegrist, there will be “dramatic” layoffs in the Area Education Agencies if there is no additional state aid for the coming school year.

For example, A.E.A. staff who work with children with special needs, like kids who have autism, may meet with that child once a week rather than twice a week, Siegrist estimates.

Tags: Education, Iowa House of Representatives
Category Education, Featured, Recent News |

Republicans Open Debate on NO GROWTH for Iowa Schools this Afternoon

The Iowa House prepares to debate a plan by Republicans to decrease support to k-12 schools instead of providing 2 percent growth for next year.

The allowable growth formula sets the amount of state and property tax dollars that funds school districts.  The growth is set by the legislature every year to provide a cost of living adjustment to schools.

Zero percent growth for our schools is simply inadequate.  It will increase class sizes and force consolidation in rural districts.  If Republicans can find $200 million to pay for tax breaks for the biggest corporations in Iowa, we can provide additional support for our schools.

Democrats  supported two percent instead of zero percent growth, the zero percent measure was approved by the Iowa House and now goes to the Senate, which prefers two percent. If zero percent growth becomes law, it would be the first time Iowa has ever provided no growth for our schools.

Tags: Allowable Growth, Education
Category Education, Featured, Recent News |

Iowa SAT Scores Top in the Nation

The Iowa Department of Education recently released that Iowa students performed top in the nation on SAT scores, this just after the announcement that Iowa students are 2nd in the nation for ACT scores.

Iowa students continue to perform well on the SAT, the college entrance exam administered by the College Board. With three percent of 2010 graduating seniors taking the exam, the SAT is less predominant in Iowa than the ACT test.  Iowa students who take the SAT perform well, however, with the highest composite scores in the nation for reading, math and writing.

• 603 in critical reading, compared to a national mean score of 501;
• 613 in math, compared to a national mean score of 516;
• 582 in writing, compared to a national mean score of 492.

The 10-year change shows a 14-point increase in reading and 13-point increase in math. Decade information is not available for the writing test, which has been administered since 2006.

Tags: Act, act scores, Education, iowa deptartment of education, SAT, SAT scores
Category Education, Featured, Recent News |

Iowa ACT Scores #2 in the Nation

Once again Iowa’s graduating high school students ranked number two in the nation after the state of Minnesota. Iowa students earned an average composite score of 22.2. The national average was 21.0. A perfect score on the ACT is a 36.The 2010 high school class left better prepared for college than the 2009 class predecessors, and their ACT scores remained second-highest in the country.

In 2008 the Iowa Legislature passed SF 2216 that boasted Iowa’s Core Curriculum by upping the standards of graduating high school students. Three years after the Legislature raised standards in schools to boost student achievement and ensure kids are prepared for jobs in today’s global economy, the Iowa Board of Education gave unanimous approval at their July 29th meeting to combine Iowa’s Core standards with a multi-state effort to develop a “Common Core” standard.

The Iowa Department of Education’s review of the new national model of education standards shows they are aligned with 88% of Iowa’s standards for math skills and concepts addressed in the Iowa Core. In literacy or English language arts, 84% of the skills and concepts addressed in the Iowa Core are also covered in the Common Core.

The Common Core State Standards were developed to be aligned with college and work expectations, to include rigorous content and skills, and to be internationally benchmarked. The Common Core State Standards initiative encompasses standards for English, language arts, and mathematics.

Tags: Act, common core, core curriculum, Education, iowa department of education
Category Education, Featured, Recent News |

Governor Signs Bill Encouraging Educator Diversity

State Representatives Ako Abdul-Samad and Wayne Ford were in attendance yesterday at Moulton Elementary in Des Moines as Governor Chet Culver signed bills encouraging diversity among teachers. Rep. Abdul-Samad and Rep. Ford spoke to students and teachers in the auditorium about the importance of education and diversity in the classroom.

With House File 2432, the Department of Education, area education agencies and public and private colleges and universities will study opportunities to employ and keep racial and ethnic minority teachers in the classroom. The representatives will look at specific methods to encourage minority students to enter teaching at Iowa universities and to encourage them to become school administrators in Iowa.

Staff support to the study group will come from the Board of Regents. A report is expected to the General Assembly by Jan. 10, 2011.

Tags: Ako Abdul-Samad, bill signing, Chet Culver, Education, Moulton Elementary, Wayne Ford
Category Education, Jobs & Economy |