Halsuka: Public education is under a "barrage"

Decorah School Superintendent Mike Haluska says public education is a promise we make to our children, but there are currently "a barrage" of forces that are trying to take away funding from education.

In a program at the Winneshiek County Democratic Party's meeting Thursday night, Haluska said the increase in the State of Iowa's allowable growth figure for education funding has been the lowest since 1974 in seven out of the last eight years.

Haluska says the reductions in education spending are part of an effort to try to convince people that public education is not as good as charter schools, "and the research does not bear that out."  But he expects another effort by some state legislators next year to advance the cause of "education savings accounts," which is another name for "vouchers," and advises the public to "watch closely" what legislators will discuss and to give them feedback.

Haluska praised an effort by State Senator Mike Breitbach and others to increase the transportation assistance to rural school districts with long bus routes.  He says the legislation would have been "a real lifeline for rural schools," but it was quashed by legislative leadership--something he says is a good example of the "oligarchy" now running state government.

The one percent increase in state aid the Decorah School District received from the state amounted to $91,625 in new money.  That was not enough to cover a $237,455 increase in salaries of school district employees.  Decorah will receive an additional $120,000 in state aid because North Winneshiek 7th and 8th graders will attend classes in Decorah next year, but the Decorah School Board still had to cancel a $120,000 program for the deaf in order to meet its budget.