Letter to the Editor: Forces in Des Moines and Washington, D.C. are placing our students at risk.

(The following Letter to the Editor has been received from Retired Decorah HS Director of Bands Jim Fritz):

I would like to congratulate and thank all of my former colleagues in the Decorah Community School District for once again rising to the top in our state in preparing our students for the future.  I know how hard they work to create challenging curriculum that meets the standards of the 21st century.  It is almost becoming an expectation that this level of excellence will always occur.

Unfortunately, as recent events prove, that is not an expectation we should take for granted.  Legislative actions in Washington DC to confirm Betsy DeVos as Department of Education Secretary were a mockery of the confirmation process.   She has no education background nor experience, never went to public schools nor sent her children, and has used a large chunk of her fortune in Michigan to hamstring public education.  She bought her way (and even admits it!) to this Cabinet post through her political campaign contributions.  In addition, on the same day DeVos was confirmed (by Vice President Pence's vote to break a Senate tie…..the first at a Cabinet confirmation vote in the history of this country!) a bill put forth by a Kentucky legislator was presented aiming to eliminate the Department of Education all together by December 31, 2018.  

At the state level, the Governor, House and Senate have initiated a coordinated attack on all public employees, including educators.  Recent legislation introduced will muzzle all public employees from having any voice in their workplace.  Teachers will have no say in how education is administered in our state.  The people closest to our students will have their hands tied to act as advocates on their behalf.  Additionally, collective bargaining for this same group of public employees is under fire.  Iowa is a Right To Work State and public employees cannot strike.  Collective Bargaining has allowed all public employees (police, firemen, university and public education faculty and staff) to have a voice in their future.  It was a law created by another Republican governor, Robert Ray, in the 1980s and has served the state and these employees well since.  These moves are power plays, nothing more.

Additionally, IPERS (Iowa Public Employee Retirement Service) is being targeted as well.  This is a fund that provides retirement funds for all public employees.  It is NOT a taxpayer liability for the future as all past and present public employees and their employers have contributed to the service.  Recent changes have guaranteed that the fund will be fully funded within 25 years.  It is one of the best administrated funds of its kind in the country.  Teachers have never gone into the profession to get rich.  The salaries don't justify that argument.  However, IPERS has allowed all public employees to retire with dignity, following years of public service, through a top notch program.  Unfortunately, the current administration and legislative branches have looked upon the reserves of this fund with greedy eyes.  It's not their money!

Locally, school districts are being strangled with the lowest financial support from the state legislature in the past 20 years.  This is not a new development, either, as it has been this way for several years already.  Districts have cut programs and staff, have consolidated, and have made best possible use of the limited resources available to them.  Unfortunately, we are now long past cutting fat from the budget and have cleaved deeply into the meat.  Soon, it will be worse.

Decorah teachers, parents, students, and the entire community should be proud of the accomplishments at DCSD!  This is not a partisan issue.  Unfortunately, it's not a local issue anymore.  Forces in Des Moines and Washington, D.C. are placing our students at risk.   I urge all of you to contact your senators and congressmen and urge them to strengthen the Department of Education (not eliminate it), to listen to the voices of educators rather than trying to muzzle them, to fully fund our state schools, and to allow public employees to continue to collect the pension to which they and their employers have contributed.

Our children deserve no less.