After the Republican leaders of Statehouse Democrats were criticized over the education proposals, the Iowa Republican leaders announced their commitment to funding K-12 education in The Gazette earlier this month.
The column was written by Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley and Iowa Senate Leader Jack Whitver.
The governor and leaders of the Republican State House have been criticized in recent weeks over bills on ‘school choice’ that will drive less taxpayer money to public schools. (The Fact Checker team investigated this earlier.)
There are a number of demands Reynolds, Grassley and Whitver have made on their K-12 budgets, and more than a decade ago on spending Democrats’ education.
Analysis
Claim 1: “Since 2011, we have invested almost $ 1 billion more in education.”
The Fact Checker asked the governor’s office for these and other claims made in the guest column. For this first statement, officials sent a document from the Iowa Department of Management setting out state funding that was eventually allocated to K-12 schools.
Additional state funding for districts has increased by $ 1 billion over the past decade, starting at $ 2.4 billion in fiscal 2011 and $ 3.4 billion in fiscal 2021, according to the document.
The claim does not take inflation into account: $ 2.4 billion in January 2011 would be equivalent to $ 2.85 billion in January 2021 – an increase, but not entirely $ 1 billion.
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Claim 2: “…. Education funding accounts for 54 percent of our state budget, and our pre-12 programs fetch 80 percent of that amount. ”
This claim refers to the governor’s budget recommendations announced in January. According to the document, the proposed allocation for education is $ 4.4 billion, representing 54 percent of the more than $ 8.1 billion general fund recommendations for fiscal 2022.
According to the non-partisan legislative services agency, the 2022 fiscal recommendation is about a $ 38 million increase in education funding from the $ 945 million seen in fiscal 2021.
The document with the governor’s recommendations shows that the Iowa Department of Education could receive about $ 3.7 billion for fiscal 2022 – or about 80 percent of the proposed $ 4.4 billion for education, while the rest to the Board of Regents, student aid and other entities.
However, these are only the recommendations of the governor and the final general budget has not been approved by the legislature, so it is not yet possible to say what percentage the education expenditure will be from the total state budget.
On Wednesday, lawmakers sent an education funding bill to the governor’s desk for her signature that is less than her 2.5 percent increase in state funding to public schools K-12 for fiscal year 2022. Instead, the House and Senate passed a bill that saw a slightly smaller 2.4 percent increase.
Reynolds has indicated no opposition to the bill and is expected to sign it.
Claim 3: “When you consider government, local, and federal expenditures, it amounts to about $ 14,000 per student per year.”
This sentence from the gas column again refers to the governor’s budget recommendations for fiscal 2022.
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An official with the office of the Iowa Senate Majority Leader gave a summary of all funding for public schools in Iowa, including the state general budget and other resources, such as SAVE, local tax money, and federal allocations.
In total, funding for school districts in the state amounts to about $ 7.5 billion. If you do math, the summary apparently uses the total enrollment year 2020 – 484,159 students – to calculate the amount per student, which amounts to $ 15,574.
According to a summary of funding allocations on the Iowa Department of Education’s website, the average spending per student for the current fiscal year is $ 12,416.
However, department spokeswoman Heather Doe said the summary was not final. Because Iowa is in the middle of the school year, the summary does not include a number of variables to consider, such as revenue districts received through grants.
The three claims from the gas column are mostly accurate. However, the second and third demands do not have the context that they refer to the governor’s recommendations for the coming fiscal year’s budgets, but make it appear as if these amounts were set in stone.
As a result, these claims deserve a B.
In their column, the governor and the leaders of the Republican State House also criticized their political opponents for cutting spending on education when they controlled the governors’ office, the House and the Senate from 2007 to 2010.
They wrote that “in 2008 (Democrats) reduced spending on education by 1.5 percent.” The column also says: “In 2009, Democrats reduced education funding by 10 percent.”
In December 2008, the then government. Chet Culver did order a 1.5% saving on the state budget, with a saving of more than $ 91.4 million. Back in October 2009, Culver issued an executive order to cut 10 percent of the state’s budget.
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School districts were affected by these decisions. One report by the West Branch Times showed that the cuts in 2008 led to a $ 49,000 reduction in state aid for West Branch schools.
The cuts came around the time of the Great Recession in 2008. At the time of Culver’s decision to cut 10 percent of the budget, the state was expected to lose nearly $ 415 million in revenue for that fiscal year.
According to a report by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, which also found that state aid to public schools continued to decline in the years that followed, most states hit school district funding after the recession. However, the report shows that unlike most states, Iowa’s total school funding per student increased by 20.6 percent from 2008 to 2015, which is responsible for inflation.
Although it had an impact on the school districts, both budget cuts in 2008 and 2009 were not specifically aimed at education.
The column does refer to an economic downturn as the reason the Democrats broke ‘their promises’ on education funding, but does not further state that 2008 was the biggest economic collapse the United States has seen since the Great Depression. As such, these claims deserve a B.
Closure
Reynolds, Grassley and Whitver support their claims that Iowa’s school districts have seen an increase in state funding over the past few years. However, the allegations referring to the governor’s budget recommendations for the coming financial year are based on projections that may not succeed completely. Yet it is accurate with what Reynolds put forward.
The allegations about the Democrats’ cuts to spending on education have been in short supply.
The total mark for the claims together is a B.
Criteria
The Fact Checker team checks the statements of a political candidate / official from Iowa or a national candidate / official about Iowa, or in advertisements that appear in our market.
Claims must be able to be confirmed independently.
We give statements from A to F based on accuracy and context.
If you notice a claim that you think you should email it to [email protected].
This fact checker was researched and written by Michaela Ramm of The Gazette.