The 90th general assembly of the Iowa Legislature begins Jan. 8, and the representatives who serve Marshall County in the State House recently spoke to the T-R about the top three things they want to accomplish.

Cahill: Focus on education, protect AEAs

Cahill

Rep. Sue Cahill (D-Marshalltown), who represents District 52 covering Marshalltown and the southeast quadrant of Marshall County, wants to put people ahead of politics during the session.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on politics — LGBTQ policies, who can use bathrooms. These are not issues I am hearing from Iowans to address,” she said.

As a member of the Education Committee, and as a retired teacher, Cahill wants to focus on education. She wants to help the students, staff and families in the public school districts, starting with improving education funding. In February, the Iowa legislature approved a three percent increase in state aid per student, which Democrats said was not enough to overcome multiple years of underfunding.

The push by Gov. Kim Reynolds to reassess the Area Education Agencies (AEA) is a concern for Cahill. Toward the beginning of December, Reynolds said a review of the AEAs was necessary to align them with the Iowa Department of Education.

“That will directly affect families, students (and) staff throughout the system,” she said. “The AEAs provide services outside of what many schools can provide, such as specialists. A student may need an audiologist to improve their education situation.”

To highlight the benefits of AEAs, Cahill recalled learning the story of a student who had an Individualized Education Program which outlines services and support necessary for that student. She said the student went through the program, obtained job skills and is now a person providing services to other community members.

Expanding child care is another issue of focus for Cahill. One of the problems she said families are encountering is income limitations. Families can apply for assistance to pay for child care if the household falls within a certain income range.

“Someone who makes $100 more or even $10 more per year, they fall off the cliff for assistance,” Cahill said. “Some people have chosen not to take a job with higher pay or a promotion because they would no longer be able to get help with their child care.”

Reviewing the taxation bill passed last year is the final priority for Cahill. The bill rolled levies into general funds for local governments, which removes the guarantee of some funding for public libraries.

“We are working on ways for them to keep that funding,” she said. “Sure, it is going to be a heavy haul, but we need to look at the resources so we can fund things most important to communities. The library is one of the essential services local governments provide, along with fire and police departments. The library is a way for people to educate themselves, and I will continue to work on that.”

In addition to the Education Committee, Cahill serves on the Administration and Rules, Education Reform and Veterans Affairs committees.

Deyoe: Continue progress on tax reform

Deyoe

Rep. Dave Deyoe (R-Nevada), who will be retiring at the end of his current term and serves District 51 covering large swaths of rural Marshall and Story counties, said the first thing he wants to tackle is tax reform. Specifically, he would like to introduce more reforms and hasten the ones already approved.

“Some of the taxes will go down in a couple years, and I think we have the ability to make them lower this year,” Deyoe said.

The income tax is expected to drop to a flat tax of 3.9 percent by 2026. It fell from 8 percent to 6 percent in 2023. Deyoe wants to get to the flax tax at a quicker pace.

“This will benefit taxpayers and make Iowa more attractive to people moving here,” he said. “We have already seen evidence of that as people are choosing Iowa over Illinois.”

Like Cahill, Deyoe wants to also focus on education for K-12 students. With many facets to education, he would like to work on making lives easier for instructors. That ranges from allowing teachers to discipline misbehaving students to boosting salaries.

Student discipline was addressed in the 89th session of the Iowa Legislature when they approved House File 604, which was signed by Gov. Reynolds in May. The bill allows school boards to adopt disciplinary policies if students engage in or threaten violent behavior. Deyoe would still like to accomplish more and make students and staff safer in the schools.

As far as boosting salaries, the average Iowa teacher salary is $55,000, which is less than neighboring states Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The third item Deyoe said he would like to accomplish is more of a “grab bag” — a collection of things to address.

“I want to make it easier for businesses to have employees with more broadband, especially if those employees are working from home,” he said. “Broadband is like a utility now, but we also need to work on keeping the cost down while improving the speed.”

Deyoe knows there is a housing challenge. Not everyone trying to move to Iowa is able to find adequate and affordable housing. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in order for a family to rent a four-bedroom home in Iowa, income earners need to bring in at least $56,535 annually. Deyoe said if potential employees cannot find a place for their families to live, they are not going to accept a job offer in Iowa.

Beyond his top three focuses, he agrees there is a child care problem, as there are not enough daycare openings for children. Deyoe hopes to encourage businesses to open their own child care facilities through providing grants, which will create more openings.

“We can throw money at the problem, but that is not going to open more slots,” he said. “We need to be careful how we approach this.”

Deyoe said child care is in the same vein as broadband — people will not move to Iowa if they cannot find what they need for their households.

“[Businesses] can offer salaries, but if there is no daycare, they will not get employees,” he said.

Deyoe serves on the Commerce, Environmental Protection, Local Government and Ways and Means committees. He is also the chair of the Labor and Workforce Committee.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.