Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com
Storm clouds thicken as flashes brighten a distant sky. It’s coming. The snare drum cadence of thunder morphs into booming bass drums accompanied by a slashing light show. The wind howls. You check the batteries in the flashlights. You close the windows and secure the garbage cans.
It’s time to gather family, grab flashlights, and head for lower ground.
There are different kinds of storms. On January 13, a legislative storm will begin brewing in Des Moines. It’s time to gather the education family to prepare.
As the saying goes (it’s not clear who said it first), “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” He recognized no two events are identical, but if something similar occurs once, it’s likely to happen again.
Public education has been under attack since 2017, when Republican legislators gutted public sector bargaining a month after convening. Like that attack, similar attacks will come early in this session, and most will happen quickly.
This storm isn’t a prediction. It’s a promise.
Part of preparing is showing up for legislative forums with questions, so the forum isn’t just “happy talk.” Protecting public schools should be a community project and should be bipartisan.
If legislators from either party refuse to attend, I’d contact the nearest media organizations to let them know which legislators are doing their jobs and which are not. They were elected to represent even those who voted against them. Ask the hard questions, and don’t let them dance.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR A LEGISLATIVE FORUM
Are you in favor of reducing property taxes? If so, how will you ensure public school revenue will be replaced by a predictable and reliable funding source? Please be specific. If property taxes are cut without providing an alternative funding source for public schools, would you still vote for the cut
During the last fourteen years, the average inflation rate has been 3.51 percent. Supplemental State Aid for Iowa’s public schools has increased by an average of 2.60 percent. There has been a consistent gap between school funding and inflation. What steps will you take to correct the underfunding?
Schools are just beginning to feel the impact of the changes to the Area Education Agencies’ structure and funding. Will you listen to school administrators, teachers, board members, and parents regarding problems with this change and adjust the law?
Last year, the legislature raised the minimum salary for public school teachers. Are you willing to do a similar bill raising support staff salaries?
The Iowa Public Employee Retirement System (IPERS) is important for retaining veteran educators. Will you protect the current defined benefit plan for new and veteran public educators?
Insurance coverage currently is not a mandatory topic of collective bargaining. Would you be in favor of making insurance benefits a mandatory topic, so educators have a voice about coverage?
Iowa has a budget surplus of roughly $1.8 billion. Would you vote to use a portion of that money to fund free breakfast and lunch for all students in public schools?
A few states are forcing public schools to incorporate the Bible into the curriculum. Do you support this idea? If so, how will you guarantee all students will feel comfortable and welcome, including those who practice no religion or a different one from Christianity?
Governor Kim Reynolds has indicated she wants a cell phone ban in schools. Would you commit to listening to local parents and educators before you vote on any law?
Would you commit to spending a day in a public school shadowing an educator?
Iowa can’t afford to let a legislative storm blow away our public schools. This is a community effort, much like when we assist a family in crisis. Public schools are a community treasure. Let’s protect them.
3 Comments
It's always about teachers, never about students
When you talk with your K-12 school administrator, they’ll say they are forbidden to pay the good hardworking teacher more than the lazy incompetent one. They’ll tell you that unions forbid them from using students’ feedback to evaluate teachers. And the same teachers’ unions still haven’t apologized for closing schools for months during Covid. Read Wikipedia, “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education in the United States”, it is painful to read how our teachers’ unions sacrificed the mental health and education of an entire generation out of fear and self-interest. Sweden did not close their schools for kids under 16 years old, and closures in most other civilized countries were much shorter, like one order of magnitude shorter.
Ask your kids and grandkids too, they see what happens in Iowa schools. There are plenty of problems more urgent than money. Hard work is no longer rewarded, sloppiness and violence are no longer punished. At least they know a long list of pronouns.
Karl M Sat 21 Dec 11:36 AM
No title
I fundamentally believe you cannot empower students if teachers are not empowered. Also, the best indicator for student success is a high quality teacher.
The idea the Iowa teacher unions had anything to do with closing schools is a misrepresentation of recent history.
Quality teaching requires quality team work. That’s why merit pay is counter productive.
When was the last time you visited a public schools.
If your source is Wikipedia, you may want to seek out other sources of accurate information.
Bruce Lear Sat 21 Dec 2:02 PM
Mr Lear is right
Iowa teachers union did not fight for closing schools. Yet they fought for not reopening when the Government told them to reopen. In August 2020, ISEA (the main teacher union in Iowa) joined the Iowa City Community School District in filing a lawsuit seeking the authority for local districts to determine reopening plans based on regional health data. However, their request for a temporary injunction was denied, and state mandates requiring at least 50% in-person instruction remained in effect.
I am not answering ad hominem arguments. Most of the time, Wikipedia is a good source of information, better than some teaching material I have recently seen used in my school district.
Karl M Sat 21 Dec 4:36 PM