It was a very snowy start to the 2024 session, Iowans dealt with their first real taste of winter as Iowa’s legislators made their way to the Capitol. Monday was the kickoff for the House and Senate as the formalities to get them underway were accomplished, I filed one of the first bills, for a constituent with a special needs son (relating to student removal from school buses), and that was about it for Monday, other than our first Snowmageddon of the year arriving.
Tuesday, we got started with committee meetings, I am back on Commerce after a brief hiatus, and we dug right into a presentation on insurance, banking, credit unions and PBMs. My committees this year are Appropriations, Commerce, (Chairman) Eco Grow/IT, and Transportation.
At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, we heard the Condition of the State from Governor, Kim Reynolds. She then talked about her accomplishments of the past seven years and laid out her vision for the future. Some of the highlights were to increase starting teacher pay by 50%, to $50,000, and to set a minimum salary of $62,000 for those with at least 12 years of experience. On top of that, she pitched a merit-based fund that will reward teachers who have gone above and beyond to help students succeed.
She announced Thrive Iowa, a new initiative that will leverage faith-based orgs to connect folks to support outside of government assistance. She also noted there’s little to no coordination between our 13 mental health regions and our 19 substance abuse regions, and there’s 25% overlap between the two, she looks to combine them into seven unified health regions.
Her vision of our budget proposes to cut the income tax even further to a flat 3.5% by 2025, speeding up and deepening our previous income tax bill.
Probably the most talked about and the corresponding piece she mentioned is her proposal for Area Education Authorities or AEAs. Under her proposal AEAs would focus solely on students with disabilities and their oversight would move to the Dept of Ed. School Districts would now control their own special education funds – meaning they will no longer be mandated to send those funds to AEAs. If schools like the services from their AEA, they can continue to use them, if they’d rather use a neighboring AEA or contract with a private company or they could spend more on special ed teachers and put the funds right into the classroom, in short, each school would decide what’s best for them.
So, where’s the Gov coming from and what’s the data she is using on this AEA reorg?First, I suggest contacting her office with those questions, but this is what I’ve gathered from her office: Despite spending $5,331 more than the national average, Iowa students with disabilities had poorer academic results. Across NAEP testing (in ’17, ’19 and ’22) Iowa’s 30th or worse on 9 of 12 assessments. The AEA funding in FY ’23 is $529 million, with very little oversight or accountability, and AEAs employ more than 3,400 staff members compared to the Dept of Ed’s 555, with AEAs owning or leasing 54 properties with an average admin overhead of 19%.
Personally, I am open to the accountability piece. It would have been great to have a lot more input from AEAs and school districts on creation of the bill, though. Maybe moving the AEAs under the Dept of Ed for oversight purposes and then having them incrementally change the AEAs as needed could be a more deliberate and thoughtful way to implement needed change, rather than a massive complete overhaul.
Her AEA bill will now go to the Education committees in both chambers to be vetted in sub and full committees. I know there are many questions about this proposal in our caucus. Members of the House Ed Committee have children who use AEAs. Former Speaker Brent Siegrist is also in our caucus, and I know he will have a lot of valuable input as he was a former Executive Director of the AEAs.
The committee that I chair, Economic Growth and Information Technology, met briefly on Wednesday. I spoke on the impact of AI across different contexts and applications and that the benefits and drawbacks of AI requires careful consideration. An area where I am particularly concerned is with AI’s involvement in elections. While AI can enhance efficiency and accuracy in various aspects of the electoral process, there are also concerns about potential adverse effects. To mitigate these risks, it is crucial for our state and its election authorities, and technology developers to implement robust cybersecurity measures, ensure transparency in AI applications, and enact legislation and regulations that safeguard the integrity of electoral processes.
Monday January 15th is (First in the Nation) Caucus Day in Iowa. Hopefully y’all have taken the opportunity to vet the various Presidential candidates as they’ve made their way across our state. I like to remind folks how lucky we are, as a lower population state, to get the attention and economic benefits of being First in the Nation. We get the amazing opportunity, in rooms of 20 to 30 people, to pepper Presidential candidates with questions, most states and communities do not get that opportunity. Also, don’t leave this big decision up to the party nerds, get out and support your candidate, because the only way to cast your vote on the GOP side is to be there in person. So, grab your family friends and neighbors and get out there and let ‘em know who We The People of Iowa are supporting.
I want to express my sincere gratitude for reaching out to me with your thoughts and concerns. Your engagement is invaluable to me as your representative. I am fortunate to represent a district of over 30,000 constituents, and while I am dedicated to addressing the emails I receive, the volume of messages can sometimes be overwhelming. Please know that I am committed to ensuring that each constituent’s voice is heard regardless of position or party. My newsletter is great way to see where I see things heading and what my priorities are. You can reach me at [email protected]. Thank you counties of Adair, Madison, Dallas, Clarke and Union for allowing me to represent you at our Capitol.
