House approves education funding plan
By Charlotte Eby Journal Des Moines Bureau | Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2008
DES MOINES -- The Iowa House on Monday approved a $1.24 billion education spending plan for next year, a plan majority Democrats say is a $60 million bump over the previous year.
The biggest funding increase included $75 million more for teacher salaries. That was a priority of Gov. Chet Culver, a former classroom teacher. Some other areas saw no funding increases.
Rep. Cindy Winckler, a Davenport Democrat who chairs a committee that oversees the education budget, said lawmakers wanted to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.
"It's tough in a time when everything is going up that we tell departments that their funding levels are status quo," Winckler said.
The plan cleared the House on 52-48 vote, largely along party lines.
Under the plan that passed, Iowa's regent universities will receive $650 million, the same funding as the prior year.
The House proposal has $3 million more in general aid for Iowa community colleges than Culver has proposed spending, for a total of $180.4 million.
Rep. Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, sought $6.4 million more for community colleges. Grassley's amendment failed on a 47-52 vote.
Republicans argued tuition at community colleges would rise if the state doesn't allocate more dollars.
"We're going to raise tuition on our most vulnerable population," said Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, a Wilton Republican and community college instructor.
Lawmakers did adopt an amendment offered by Rep. Jodi Tymeson, R-Winterset, and other Republicans that would require the universities to inform the Legislature if they engaged in any activities or studies involving actions illegal under Iowa law. The sponsors wanted the requirement after seeing a media report that the University of Iowa was studying marijuana smokers.
The budget plan, House File 2679, now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Charlotte Eby can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com. {M7
The biggest funding increase included $75 million more for teacher salaries. That was a priority of Gov. Chet Culver, a former classroom teacher. Some other areas saw no funding increases.
Rep. Cindy Winckler, a Davenport Democrat who chairs a committee that oversees the education budget, said lawmakers wanted to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.
"It's tough in a time when everything is going up that we tell departments that their funding levels are status quo," Winckler said.
The plan cleared the House on 52-48 vote, largely along party lines.
Under the plan that passed, Iowa's regent universities will receive $650 million, the same funding as the prior year.
The House proposal has $3 million more in general aid for Iowa community colleges than Culver has proposed spending, for a total of $180.4 million.
Rep. Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, sought $6.4 million more for community colleges. Grassley's amendment failed on a 47-52 vote.
Republicans argued tuition at community colleges would rise if the state doesn't allocate more dollars.
"We're going to raise tuition on our most vulnerable population," said Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, a Wilton Republican and community college instructor.
Lawmakers did adopt an amendment offered by Rep. Jodi Tymeson, R-Winterset, and other Republicans that would require the universities to inform the Legislature if they engaged in any activities or studies involving actions illegal under Iowa law. The sponsors wanted the requirement after seeing a media report that the University of Iowa was studying marijuana smokers.
The budget plan, House File 2679, now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Charlotte Eby can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com. {M7
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