According to the special interests running the show for Republicans at the State Capitol these days, the next priority of the Iowa Legislature will be vouchers that siphon funding from public schools and give it to home schools and private schools. They convinced a Republican Senator to introduce their bill and it may get a hearing [...]
We reached another important deadline in the Legislature this week designed to help us narrow down the bills eligible for debate as we close in on adjournment. There are a few bills nearing consensus, but the major issues facing us – public school funding and Medicaid privatization -- are still being ignored by House Republicans. While [...]
The Governor Who Thought He Was King Our system of government is set up with a series of checks and balances. Right now, Iowans picked a divided government, which means we have to work together to move our state forward. After 21 years in office, Governor Terry Branstad apparently doesn’t understand that. He is working over-time [...]
Last week, we ended the 2015 legislative session and returned to our homes and communities. The question everyone always asks is, “what will this session be known for?” The answer is simple: shortchanging our kids in the school funding crisis that carried on for 477 days. That means larger class sizes and fewer opportunities for [...]
The 2015 session moves in to overtime this week with no end in sight. The last scheduled day of session was last Friday, May 1st, but there are still a lot of issues to be resolved. The delay is largely the result of gridlock from House Republicans, who are now at odds with their own [...]
Despite our efforts to compromise, the school funding crisis hit another unfortunate milestone this week as schools were forced to set their budget for the upcoming school year without knowing how much money they will get from the state. Iowans are just beginning to learn about the devastating results of the legislative stalemate from pink slips [...]
Dear %%First Name%%, With an aging population, perhaps the biggest challenge facing Iowa today is a skilled worker shortage. It’s a looming threat to our economy because if we don’t have enough workers with the right skills, businesses will be forced to relocate or expand outside of Iowa. Right now, 56% of jobs in Iowa are [...]
