The Greene County School Board held a work session on Wednesday night.

The Board talked about school-related topics with Democrat David Weaver, who is running for Iowa House District 47. The Board first went over their priorities that they were going to present at next month’s Iowa Association of School Boards convention. The first issue was on dropout and at-risk funding. The Board wanted to see restrictions for funding be reduced and possibly be added with per pupil funding instead of an additional property tax component.

Another IASB priority was mental health. Weaver noted that mental health was the top priority for Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams. Weaver believes funding should go toward education of mental health. Board member Dr. Steve Karber, a retired physician, said mental health providers are of the poorest reimbursed medical professions. School districts do get reimbursed from privatization of medicaid programs, which Weaver believes there needs to be more oversight of those managed care organizations running it.

Another IASB topic was extending the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) funds. Superintendent Tim Christensen pointed out that they wanted the SAVE funds to be extended from 2029 to 2049 so they could utilize those funds on the building project. Weaver said he was in favor of doing so if elected.

Other topics that were discussed include commercial rollbacks, business tax credits, collective bargaining and school transportation costs.

Republican candidate Phil Thompson was also invited, but was unable to attend the work session.