Last week, the Iowa Senate passed their version of public school funding for the upcoming fiscal year.

District 24 Senator Jerry Behn says Senate File 166 proposes a $40 million increase in state supplemental aid for school districts. The bill follows closely with what the House passed for their 1.1 percent increase. He understands what school districts are going through in their financial hardships, but he points out that the state is already paying between $11,000-$12,000 per student, when you consider supplemental aid and property taxes.

“If you look at the various state across the country, states that spend more per pupil, don’t necessarily have better outcomes. There’s not a direct correlation between the amount of money you spend per pupil and the amount of classroom performance that you receive.”

One reason why Behn believes school districts are struggling is because of declining enrollment. He provides a possible solution.

“One of the things that we continue to work on down here (in Des Moines) is what we can do to incentivise job creators to locate in the rural areas we can either slow or actually reverse the trend of the outward migration from the rural areas of the state to the more populated areas of the state.”

He is hopeful that the bill will be on the governor’s desk before school district have to certify their budgets by April 15th.