Iowa State Senate Republicans recently proposed an increase in public K through 12 funding by three-percent for State Supplemental Aid (SSA), which would exceed Governor Kim Reynolds proposal of 2.5-percent.  

Iowa Senator for District 14 Sarah Trone-Garriott explains historically the Republican-controlled Congress has kept the SSA increase at 2.5-percent which she says is way behind the rising cost of goods and services. Trone-Garriott says that if the state wants to make up for lost ground an increase in 10-percent for SSA funds would make sense but realistically four-percent would be reasonable. She states that where the SSA funding proposals are right now is insulting. 

“One out of three Iowa schools are not even going to be able to meet last year’s budget with that level of increase because it’s on a per-student basis. And a number of our rural schools are losing students there. Just people are moving away. Some of those populations are shrinking. And that means they’re going to have to cut teachers, they’re going to have to cut programs. They’re going to have to look to consolidate.”

The Iowa Legislature is required to set the SSA for public schools within the first 30 days of the legislative session.