The Iowa Senate recently passed a bill to increase funding for public schools.

Senate Republicans are proposing a 1.75 percent increase for the State Supplemental Aid (SSA) of additional money for the next school year while Governor Kim Reynolds is recommending a 2 percent increase. District 14 Senator Sarah Trone-Garriott says those aren’t enough for school districts.

“You will hear folks talk about how every year, for the last dozen or so years, our school funding rate has increased. But it has not increased at the same rate that inflation has increased. When you don’t keep up school funding with the cost of inflation, it means you have an effective cut, you’re falling behind every year.”

Trone-Garriott adds that she has been talking with area school districts, both rural and in the metro. She details that the districts need somewhere between 2.5 to 4 percent just to stay level. 

“So 1.75 percent means that we’re going to have 208 school districts who are going to be on the budget guarantee. That means that if the level of school funding that is being provided is going to cause a school district’s budget to drop, they can use property taxes to try to gradually decrease instead of having a huge drop.”

Trone-Garriott details that may mean that districts have to look at cutting staff or programs, increasing class sizes or looking at consolidating or closing. 

The Iowa House Appropriations Committee approved a 2.25% increase for SSA on Monday. The House has not scheduled a vote on the floor for the bill.