Breitbach and Thomas are differing on school district allowable growth

A showdown between the Iowa State Senate and the Iowa State Assembly may be in the works on the issue of state funding for school districts.

The Iowa Senate has approved a $187 million school aid spending package  and has sent the bill to the House, where it faces an uncertain fate because Governor Terry Branstad is asking Republicans to delay action until after the legislature passes a bill reforming the state's education system.

State Senator Mike Breitbach of Strawberry Point voted against the allowable growth bill in the Senate.  "I feel schools should receive their Allowable Growth numbers at a reasonable time to allow them to plan for their next school year," said Breitbach.  But he said approving the allowable growth bill before voting on the education reform bill "is a mistake as we don't know what the impact of the reform bill will be and I felt we still had time to pass an Allowable Growth bill before the March 1st deadline.

State Representative Roger Thomas of Elkader says school districts need to know about state funding as soon as possible: "We can't ask schools to do more when they can't keep up with the basics like rising health care, transportation, and energy costs.  Thomas says the legislature has begun work on the Governor's education reform proposals, but "it may take months to reach consensus.  There's no need to use state aid for our schools as a bargaining chip for education reform." 

Thomas says he will be urging his colleagues in the House to take action quickly and send the allowable growth bill to the Governor.  "There's no time to waste," says Thomas.

State Senator Michael Breitbach

State Representative Roger Thomas