ISSUE #1-Education
No factor contributes more to the expenditure of tax dollars in Iowa than education, or the failure to educate and prepare Iowa students. Taxpayers spend nearly five billion dollars annually on early childhood education, K-12 education, community colleges and the Regent Universities in Iowa. From federal appropriations to local option taxes, education commands broad support and vast resources. It is the single top priority of our citizenry and our state government, dwarfing all other considerations.
The failure to educate students also results in significant taxpayer investments in the criminal justice system and health and human services. Across the nation, academic failure has become such a significant predictor of lifelong failure that states now use test scores to plan prison expansion. The failure to educate students is also a major factor in the inability to secure and maintain gainful employment. As a result, significant demands are placed on our health and human services functions. In addition to the money spent directly on education, taxpayers spend approximately two billion dollars annually on these two areas.
A well educated workforce is also vital to the future of our state’s economy. If we are to keep the jobs we have in this state and attract new business and industry in an age of globalization, we must have a competitive workforce. Regarding education, my goal is to serve as a catalyst for improving academic achievement in this district. To accomplish this, I have four areas I will emphasize:
1. Parental Involvement: The first step to improving academic achievement in the district is to get parents or significant adults involved in our students’ day-to-day education. There are various reasons why students lose academic ground in middle school and high school. I believe a primary reason is parents are very involved in their students’ academic lives in elementary school but that participation falls off in middle school and virtually disappears in high school when it is needed most.
The one area, ironically, we find parents stay involved or get more involved in the lives of their children as they get older is when their children demonstrate athletic prowess. The same involvement we see from parents in supporting athletic achievement and development is the same involvement we need to see from parents in supporting academic achievement and development.
2. Investing In The Classroom: The next step to improving academic achievement in the district is investing the dollars generated by our students, on our students. This district contains some of the poorest students in the state and a high number of special education students. The dollars generated by this population is disproportionately high compared to the student bodies found in other districts. Yet the actual percentage of the dollars generated by this group of students spent on them, in the classroom, is among the lowest in the state.
Too much education money is spent on the education bureaucracy. A minimum of 90% of the money generated by students in our state should be spent at the building level and a minimum of 70% of that money should be spent directly at the classroom level.
3. Accountability: Data inconsistencies, high levels of absenteeism, and poor academic achievement are unacceptable. Too much of the conversation surrounding public education has focused on the intent and the aims and too little has focused on the accuracy of data, the delivery of services, academic achievement, graduation, and preparation for competing in a global economy.
This must change! Iowans have proven they are willing to invest in the education of their children. The education bureaucracy must be equally forthcoming in telling us the truth about our children and in producing results with the resources we provide them.
4. Lifelong Learning: The world is changing very rapidly. Outsourcing, corporate takeovers, evolving technologies, and international instabilities all contribute to an uncertain economy and an uncertain future. By stressing lifelong learning, Iowans will stay prepared for changes in the global market place. In a state our size this is vital to staying competitive.
By emphasizing lifelong learning we also equip Iowans to compete socially, recreationally and culturally. Iowans do best when they are engaged. By promoting lifelong growth, personal development and learning, Iowans will find new and creative outlets to explore themselves, their families, their communities, and their state.
We hear so much about keeping young people in Iowa. Iowa has done a lot for me. Iowa is a great place to live. Iowa is a great place to own a business, raise a family and to enjoy a high quality of life. We need to invest less in the glitz of casinos and hundred million dollar structures and invest more in our youth, recreation, culture, and family oriented activities.
