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Last week I attended a School Board Meeting in Marshalltown and a Legislative Forum at East Marshall School to talk about education priorities in the upcoming legislative session. The forum at East Marshall included school administrators, school board members and superintendents from the surrounding districts. I was joined by Senator Jeff Edler in Marshalltown and Sen. Edler, Representative Dean Fisher and Senate Chair of the Education Committee Ken Rozenboom in East Marshall.
Sen. Rozenboom shared four priority education issues from the Governor and Majority Party for the upcoming session. These include setting the school budget allocation in a timely manner, increasing access to preschool, reorganization of the Area Education Agencies (AEAs) and increasing teacher salaries and retention.
In my final comments, I complimented my colleagues on setting these goals as they could benefit many students and districts. I noted that we all want what is best for kids in Iowa. If we can come together and work across the aisle to discuss these issues to benefit all students, we will accomplish a great deal in the upcoming session.
This past legislative session, we did not accomplish any of these important items. Instead, we spent an inordinate amount of time dealing with issues that affected a very small number of students across our state -- what bathroom someone uses, what nickname someone was called, teaching about gender identity and the broader sense of our world, looking at books that are classics in our world and taking them off the shelves limiting the freedom of choice for our students and families.
The legislation proclaimed "Parental Choice," but it also took away the "Parental Choice" of others who believe differently. We spent time dividing people rather than focusing on the needs of all students.
The majority party pushed through the Educational Saving Accounts - vouchers, although an overwhelming percentage of Iowans are against spending public money in private schools. More than 91 percent of the people who contacted me, and I had well over 1,000 people contact me about vouchers, were against it, and yet we spent an inordinate amount of time and money on vouchers. We did not put that money toward improving overall student achievement, increasing opportunities for students and retaining and hiring teachers.
I do have concerns about the reorganization of the AEAs. These agencies provide needed services for our school districts, especially our rural and smaller districts who cannot afford to hire and keep full time specialized staff in areas of special education, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language, medical care, English Language Learning, early childhood learning and other areas to meet the needs of students and families.
Currently, the Central Rivers AEA serves students in multiple districts in multiple counties. The AEAs also provide professional development and networking for our teaching and administrative staff on the best teaching strategies for all students. Sen. Rozenboom stated that disbanding the AEAs was not on the table, yet I have heard that rumor from other groups. This item will take extensive study and input from those who deliver and use the services and understand the role of the AEA. It takes more than one data point to make these decisions. I hope for bipartisan work on this issue.
Recently a woman asked me, "When is enough (money into education) enough if we are not seeing the results?" I firmly believe that we serve ALL students and ALL students can learn. When ALL students are successful and we have found the best ways to meet their needs, then enough will be enough. If I want schools better for my kids, we have to make schools better for ALL kids.
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Sue Cahill, a Democrat from Marshalltown,
represents District 52 in the Iowa House.