Latest news with #StateSupplementalAid
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Effort to provide free tampons, pads in school women's restrooms moves in the House
A bill to provide free sanitary products in school women's restrooms advanced from an appropriations subcommittee Monday. (Photo by) Lawmakers advanced a proposal Monday to provide state funding for schools to stock free feminine hygiene products in women's restrooms — but it may have a hard time making it to the finish line this session. House File 883 would provide state funding for schools to have menstrual products like tampons and sanitary pads available in school women's bathrooms for 6th through 12th grade students from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028. The bill had received approval in March from the House Education Committee, but had not been discussed in the months since. At a House appropriations subcommittee meeting Monday, Angela Caulk with the Family Planning Council of Iowa, thanked lawmakers for their work 'behind the scenes' on the bill, ensuring that it was still in the discussion. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'Just as a woman and someone who was a teenager, I just want to thank you all for this, because I think it can make a big difference,' she said. In earlier meetings on the bill, students and supporters said providing these products for free in school restrooms will help low-income students and help reduce chronic absenteeism at Iowa schools. The measure was brought up in part because of advocacy efforts by the nonprofit Love for Red, an organization focused on providing free sanitary products. Students who created the nonprofit alongside their school counselor said a pilot program providing these products for free led to a reduction in female student absences. Rep. Amy Nielsen, D-North Liberty, questioned if the funding for the proposal was coming from State Supplemental Aid (SSA), the per-pupil funding for Iowa's K-12 schools — but Rep. Devon Wood, R-New Market, said it was her understanding this proposal would provide new funding from fiscal years 2026 through 2028. The legislation states that after 2028, funding for the measure would come from SSA. The legislation does not set an exact allocation for providing these products, but states 'an amount necessary to fund the full cost of compliance' will come from the state's general fund for the 2026-2028 time period. Wood said she understood questions about the exact funding for this measure, but said the measure will provide needed support for students in difficult situations. 'I think that's an important question to note, so we make sure we know where we're at, budgetarily, going forward with this,' Wood said. 'But I think if this is something that we can do … we do need to assess the need to make sure that we're fulfilling that (need).' As the House Appropriations Committee did not take up the bill at its meeting Monday, the funding proposal is unlikely to make it into the state's final budget for fiscal year 2026. Rep. Gary Mohr, R-Bettendorf, the committee chair, said there's only one bill outstanding for the committee to consider — the standing appropriations bill — before the committee is done for the year. While the money for feminine hygiene products could come up in this meeting, the bill would also need to pass on the House floor and then go through the committee process in the Senate, as the other chamber has not considered the measure or passed a companion bill this session. The proposal could be added to another appropriations bill that will make it through the session, but the measure was not included in the budget agreement reached between Senate and House Republicans. Victoria Sinclair, lobbying on behalf of several organizations including those for Iowa school nurses, school counselors, school psychologists, said her clients have proposed an amendment to remove the spending component of this bill and allow school staff to be able to place donated products in school restrooms. The language has not yet been filed as an amendment to the bill. 'I understand that the appropriation has been a big hold up for many years as we looked at this,' Sinclair said. 'And it's our understanding that many schools actually do have a decent amount of donated products, as well as folks willing to donate.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
2% proposed increase for Iowa public schools proceeds
A plan to pay for public schools in Iowa has been approved in the House. The measure, Senate File 167, would allow K-12 public schools to receive a 2% increase in State Supplemental Aid (SSA) rate, the growth rate for public school funding, allocated to schools on a per-student basis. The increase is $157 for every student and a total $240 million increase. The increase in per-pupil equity translates to $2.9 million. There would also be a $1 million increase in transportation equity. The bill is now headed to Gov. Kim Reynolds's desk. For more information, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Deadline double standard: Newton superintendent frustrated by stalled SSA funding
Apr. 8—Newton Superintendent Tom Messinger confronted state lawmakers for being unable to meet the school funding deadlines, which is not a luxury public school districts are afforded when they have to now provide residents with notices of the public hearings for the proposed property tax rate. It's frustrating, he said. "Schools have to send their information to the courthouse by March 7 this year, before March 15 when documents are going out to people. We're asked to share our tax rate for next year at a point where that deadline is not flexible," he said. "School funding has been set on time once in the past 10 years." Rep. Jon Dunwell and Sen. Ken Rozenboom told Newton school board members during their March 24 meeting that over 1,500 bills had been filed this year. And although Messinger sympathized with lawmakers for having such a busy session, he argued many of the other education bills introduced are not as pressing. State Supplemental Aid (SSA) for public schools has been stalled for some time, and it is in large part due to disagreements between the Senate and House. The Senate approved a 2 percent SSA rate, but the House has passed a 2.25 percent funding package. The school district has formed a budget with 2 percent in mind. Typically, legislators have until 30 days after the governor's budget is released to set an SSA rate for public schools. The deadline has long since passed. The superintendent of Newton schools said there is no room for the district to break the law and not submit its budget documents to the courthouse. "But yet we're in essence hurting the perception of transparency because we know that what we give the courthouse could be off," Messinger said of the school district's proposed levy rates, which were published and sent to residents. "How do we work around that? What can be done to address that with schools?" Rozenboom felt Messinger was asking fair questions but he was skeptical the Iowa Legislature only met its deadline once in the past decade. But neither knew for sure. Rozenboom couldn't confirm, and Messinger said there could be a chance his information is wrong but from what he could find it was one for 10. "We're very aware of what the statutory requirement is for us, and we're very aware that we've failed to do that this year," Rozenboom said, who admitted lawmakers dropped the ball. "I guess I think our track record is a little better than that. But that not withstanding it's a perennial question to a perennial problem." Education is always the most important aspect of the budget, Rozenboom added, and he wishes it was easy to figure out how to spend the state's budget of $9 billion. But the state senator understands lawmakers have put a burden on public schools by not getting their work done on time. Dunwell noted the House and Senate have passed school funding bills, it's just that the two bills do not agree with each other. In the end, three different parties — the House, the Senate and the governor — need to come to an agreement on what that SSA rate will be. Negotiations are still ongoing. "That's where we're at as an impasse," Dunwell said. "So we, as a House strategy, have talked a little bit to leadership like you and knowing 2 percent was kind of the bottom and that we were going to hold out a little bit more and see if we could twist the arm of the Senate a little bit and find some additional dollars."
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Iowa Senate passes 2% per-student increase for public schools
Iowa senators passed a state supplemental aid package by a 32-15 vote. The measure, Senate File 167, would allow K-12 public schools to receive a 2% increase in State Supplemental Aid (SSA) rate, the growth rate for public school funding, allocated to schools on a per-student basis. The increase is $157 for every student and a total $240 million increase. The increase in per-pupil equity translates to $2.9 million. There would also be a $1 million increase in transportation equity. The House adopted an increase of 2.25%. Senate Republicans say it's a responsible move, but Democrats say it would force school districts to make deeper cuts. The House debates the bill April 8. If passed, it will head to Gov. Kim Reynolds's desk. For more information, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Iowa Senate passes 2% per-pupil increase for K-12 public schools
Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, spoke April 7, 2025 as the floor manager for the legislation setting Iowa's State Supplemental Aid rate for the upcoming school year. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Iowa K-12 public schools would receive a 2% increase in state per-pupil funding next year under legislation the Iowa Senate approved Monday on 32-15 vote. Senate File 167 sets the State Supplemental Aid (SSA) rate for the upcoming fiscal year. SSA is the growth rate for public K-12 school funding, allocated to schools on a per-pupil basis. The Senate, and Gov. Kim Reynolds, had put forward the 2% SSA rate. But in February, the Iowa House returned the legislation to the Senate after increasing the SSA rate from 2% to 2.25%. The House amendment also added other funding components like a $10 increase to the state cost per pupil, changes to transportation equity aid payment and weighting for school districts with shared operational costs, as well as a one-time allocation of $22.6 million to help school districts with rising costs and the impacts of inflation. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Since the House vote Feb. 18, the measure did not seen public discussion again before Monday, April 7. Lawmakers had already failed to meet their self-imposed deadline to pass school funding within 30 days of the governor's budget release, in addition to failing to pass the measure before school districts' budget proposals were due in early March. However, there are still a few weeks before the school districts' final budgets must be submitted to the state by April 30. House Speaker Pat Grassley told reporters in several news conferences that House Republicans were committed to providing some additional funding supports for Iowa K-12 schools, components that were part of the hold-up in passing this year's SSA rate. 'We understand that we may not get all of those things that we include in our bill, but we'd be hopeful that there'd be at least some consideration,' Grassley told reporters in late March. 'Whether it's operational sharing, whether it's some one-time, inflationary factors — we continue to be hopeful that at some point in time enough Iowans engaging in this conversation will at least put some of those things on the table.' The gridlock ended Monday as Senate Republicans returned with an amendment that set the SSA rate at 2%, but included some components of the House amendment. The $22.6 million appropriation was removed, and the proposed raise to the state cost per pupil was lowered from $10 to $5. While the House language gave a standing unlimited appropriation for transportation equity aid payment beginning in fiscal year 2026 to make sure the statewide adjusted transportation cost per pupil was not lower than the statewide average cost, the Senate language set a 5% rate for payments to the transportation equity fund per pupil. Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, said that with the amendment, the spending package represents a $238.1 million increase for K-12 schools compared to FY 2025. Of that increase, $126.8 million will go to public schools, $96.8 million to the state's Education Savings Account (ESA) program, providing public funds for private school costs, and $14.5 million for charter schools. Evans said that the proposal provides 'responsible and sustainable funding for local school districts.' He emphasized that Republicans have steadily increased school funding in Iowa, and that K-12 spending will make up 44.7% of the state's budget in FY 2026 at $4.2 billion. 'This bill makes a promise to local school districts that can be kept,' Evans said. During debate on the SSA rate, Democrats have repeatedly called for their GOP colleagues — who control both chambers — to set a higher rate in 2025. The minority party argued that the 2% rate will put more than 150 Iowa school districts on the budget guarantee process, which will trigger property tax increases to meet funding obligations that the SSA rate does not cover. Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said Republicans' SSA proposal was 'shameful' and that the proposal will result in either higher property taxes or school staff cuts. 'This is really personal to me,' Trone Garriott said. 'My kids go to one of these schools where we are going to see cuts. My school is on this list. Property taxes are going to have to go up just to scrape by. Meanwhile, parents like me get to see up close and personal, the people who are going to lose their job, the great teachers that are going to go elsewhere, the programs that are getting cut, the class sizes that are getting larger, the opportunities that are getting missed because this body and the state Legislature won't invest in the majority of Iowa's kids through our public schools.' Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, criticized the measure as a part of legislative Republicans' and Reynolds' larger budgeting strategy which she said prioritizes private school students through the Education Savings Account (ESA) program over the majority of Iowa students who attend public K-12 schools. The ESA program, which provides students with public funds equal to the SSA per-pupil funding rate for private school tuition and associated costs, will be open to all Iowa students with no family income limits beginning in the 2025-2026 school year. Petersen said the governor's five-year projections for the state's finances show repeated dips into the state's Taxpayer Relief Fund that she said directly align with spending on the ESA program, championed by Reynolds in 2023. 'When you look at this budget … 92% of our school-age children that go to public schools are going to get an measly increase, because you have invested millions and millions of dollars for very small number of families to receive private school vouchers and corporate tax cuts,' Petersen said. 'There is still time to address that, where we could put millions more into our public school districts instead of handing them over to wealthy families who are already sending their kids to private schools, I would encourage a no vote on this legislation. It is not enough.' Evans said the amended bill is an increased investment in Iowa's K-12 system, and also represents a focus on keeping educational funding with K-12 students rather than with school districts. 'We believe it's important to be honest with our school districts about the state's finances and not overpromise,' Evans said. 'This bill continues our focus of funding students over systems. This proposal continues to demonstrate our commitment to education, dedicated funding to help students in the educational setting that is best for them and will prepare them for future success.' The legislation returns to the Iowa House. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
