T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Marshalltown Community School District Board candidates Leah Stanley, Zach Wahl and Eric Goslinga listen to fellow candidate Karina Hernandez answer a question regarding merit pay. They met at the Marshalltown Public Library for a candidate forum on Thursday night.

Four Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) Board candidates, vying for three at-large seats in Tuesday’s election, participated in a forum at the Marshalltown Public Library on Thursday night. Three incumbents – Zach Wahl, Leah Stanley and Karina Hernandez – participated alongside first time candidate Eric Goslinga.

Four members of the Marshalltown Education Association Executive Board asked specific and general questions during the hour-long event and provided candidates with a list beforehand.

The first specific question was what was the position of the candidates regarding merit pay for teachers.

Hernandez said it was a difficult question, but thinking about the district, it could be asked of the teachers and whether they are capable, which is something she did not like.

“I know we have great teachers,” she said. ” . . . Putting a dime, a penny to their wages because of our students, as an educator I will say that may not be fair, because we live in a place where our demographics may be different to many of our towns in Iowa. A lot of our kids have barriers and are learning in different ways. . . . It would not be fair to put that into play for the teachers.”

Goslinga, who retired from the position as Marshalltown Learning Academy principal at the end of the 2024-25 school year, said it is not the first time such a suggestion had been made.

“It is great in theory, and if you could manage it objectively, I would be all for it,” he said, bringing up the number of different teachers who would influence a single student’s test scores..”I don’t see how it could be managed objectively.”

Wahl said he had not yet been asked to consider teacher merit pay, and said the industry standard in the district would be the best for merit pay.

Stanley, combining the question with the proceeding question, said she enjoyed seeing the number of teachers who get rewarded at school board meetings. She said many factors would have to be taken into consideration, such as some teachers engaging in further education.

“I just think it’s not a one or the other kind of situation, and I don’t know how you would implement it,” Stanley said.

The question Stanley included asked candidates if they support maintaining collective bargaining agreements which reward experience and education.

Goslinga said they had entered a different era when it came to recruiting teachers, adding that 40 people could apply for a position 30 years ago rather than two or three today. He said the district needs to find a way to keep competitive insurance and salary packages, but added more can be done to improve working conditions which lead to employee satisfaction.

As board members, Wahl said he likes the idea of rewarding teachers and staff with further education. However, state and federal funding are constantly at risk and he said the district could include things to reward staff which are not monetary.

Stanley said she likes looking at the option of rewarding teachers who have stayed with the district.

“We have done quite a bit of promoting from within . . . as well as bringing new talent in,” she said.

According to Hernandez, the MCSD has attracted administrators and teachers from metro areas and said staff do not always have to be rewarded monetarily.

“There’s definitely ways we can work around the salary thing, but I also agree with Zach,” she said. “I do like what we have now. I like rewarding our staff with the additional education that they’re having. . . I like everything we can do to support our teachers and support our students.”

The final specific question asked of the candidates was how they would mitigate state or federal laws which they feel might have negative effects on students or staff.

Wahl said what makes him nervous is when funding is cut off and being able to maintain staff.

“How do we overcome that?” he asked. “I can’t answer that right now. . . . But I do care, and the community cares about these kids. I don’t think it’s any secret that we have been underfunded for years, the public schools. The staff are doing the best they can. Going forward, that’s my biggest concern.”

Stanley agreed with Wahl, saying state funding is an issue, and the only thing that can be done is advocating and voting for people who might change the system.

“I think the only option is encouraging people to vote differently,” she said.

Hernandez said being proactive as a board member for students and staff, and for community members to vote is important. She said partnering with nonprofit agencies in the town can also be an action the board takes in order to ensure certain programs continue in the district.

“That’s a way to continue some of the support we have in place,” she said. “But definitely be active in the community, let them know what we need and let them know what we need them to advocate for.”

Goslinga said one of the threats is vouchers. The way to mitigate the efforts, he said, is to advocate before things are passed in Des Moines.

“I think one of the things that is definitely under our control is we have great programs, and if we have great programs, we will attract students, we will attract kids,” he said. “Funding follows kids, and that helps the system.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.