The Iowa Legislature moved forward with giving an increase in public school aid for the next school year. 

The legislation makes the State Supplemental Aid rate of 2.5-percent, or over $155 million of new funding, for the 2022-23 school year. House District 20 Representative Ray Sorensen explains this piece of legislation would increase the state cost per pupil to $186and add $5 per pupil for transportation equity. 

“So for me, any arguments that we’re underfunding public education is? false, we’re responsible for record high education investments. Over the past decade. We’ve increased that funding, that K-12 funding, by a billion dollars over the past decade.”

Sorensen says he wishes House lawmakers could give more to education with inflation rising but responsible budgeting practices did not allow for that. West Central Valley Superintendent Rusty Shockley argues that public education is never adequately funded. 

“But it’s better than what we’ve got in some past years. So we will certainly take it and use it accordingly.” 

The House Democrats filed a bill that would increase school funding by five-percent which would have provided an additional $300 million to education funding.