The Iowa House recently released their funding increase to supplemental state aid for kindergarten through 12th grade education.

District 47 Representative Chip Baltimore says the House is looking to give a one-percent increase in funding for about $32 million. He acknowledges that the increase isn’t a lot, but he explains how much additional funds have been put towards k-12 education since 2011.

“We have increased funding for k-12 education from this state, it’ll be $787 million a year, that we’ve increased funding. So now we’re well up into the around $3.5 billion range every year that we spend on k-12 education. It’s about 46 to 47-percent of the entire general fund.”

Baltimore points out that over that same time period, Iowa is fourth in the country in spending for k-12 education. He adds that even though the legislature is working through budget cuts to the current fiscal year, Baltimore believes k-12 education will not be impacted.

“So k-12 education is going to be protected from those middle-of-the-year budget cuts. We’re going to find other ways to cover that shortfall.”

To hear more from Baltimore, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.