Per-student funding for public schools would increase by three-percent next year under a plan passed today in the Republican-controlled Iowa House.
That’s the same percentage increase as last year, but Democrats say schools need more.
A three-percent increase in per-student funding would add nearly 147 million dollars in new money to state aid for public schools.
House Democrats say, even at that amount, many districts will have to make cuts or raise property taxes to cover higher costs for things like insurance.
Speaker Pat Grassley says House Republicans still hope to follow up with another bill that would raise pay for teachers and paraeducators.
The Sioux City Community School district said today that after school was dismissed Wednesday, a student reported that another student may have had a weapon in their backpack at West Middle School, and it was unclear whether it was a toy.
School administrators, along with the school’s school resource officer and juvenile corrections officer immediately followed protocol and investigated the report, confirming that the weapon was a toy gun. The student faces disciplinary action for the incident.
Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids held an inauguration ceremony Wednesday afternoon for new President Kristie Fisher.
College and community leaders, legislators, and alums attended the event.
Fisher began her tenure at Kirkwood last October 30th.
Nebraska Wesleyan University is launching the next generation of innovators through a new program school leaders say will help diversify the region’s economy and strengthen workforce development.
The innovation and entrepreneurship major is the first of its kind in the state because it’s not exclusively tied to a university business program. Open to all students in any field of study, it’s designed to equip them with skills to refine ideas, start businesses, and tackle complex, societal issues.
Classes will begin in fall of 2024.
The Iowa Corn Growers Association is welcoming the Environmental Protection Agency’s final decision on access to year-round E15 for Midwest states.
In early March of 2023, the EPA delayed the implementation of a plan, created by a group of bipartisan Midwest Governors, including Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, that would allow for the sale of E15 year-round in each state until April of 2024. Today, the EPA announced it will grant the request beginning in the summer of 2025.
Iowa’s Fourth District Republican Representative Randy Feenstra was in Lawton speaking to members of the Future Farmers of America Thursday morning.
Feenstra encouraged students to continue in their chosen field of agriculture through college and beyond.
After the event, Feenstra was asked about the biggest issues before Congress right now. He said the budget and dealing with immigration at the southern border were at the top of the list.
“We are hearing it from our sheriffs with the drugs coming through, from our hospitals, from our school districts and stuff like that, this is the topic that has to happen."
Feenstra told reporters that the pending farm bill was essential to the future of farming.
“We talked to them about what’s happening in agriculture. We’ve got a big farm bill we are trying to pass and the bottom line is we gotta make sure that the next generation can be as successful as the past generation. So that we don’t have China or we don’t have outside organizations buying our farmland. That was a lot of the discussion today.”
Feenstra also talked about his Future Farmers Act, which was just introduced in the House. It will soon go through the ag committee; a committee that Feenstra sits on.
“That will happen in the next couple of months, and hopefully get to the floor, along with the Farm Bill, ah, these are big topics that we are trying to push through, and yet, we look at rural Iowa and we have to make sure that we are protecting that next generation . . . that they can buy the farmland, that they can make sure that they can be successful as they move forward.”
Feenstra added reauthorizing farm bill policies like crop insurance is vital to the success of farmers and rural communities
“It’s such a valuable safety net for the farming community. We had a drought right here in Lawton-Bronson, and NW Iowa last year, so a lot of our producers used crop insurance. And if they didn’t have crop insurance, they would go bankrupt. So we gotta provide that safety net, but it is a reauthorization program, so that’s very critical.”
Feenstra finished out the morning saying he is always inspired after returning home to Iowa and talking to young people involved in organizations like Future Farmers of America.
“When I go to DC, a large part of the membership has no idea what farming looks like. They come from New Jersey, New York, California, stuff like that. Coming back home and saying , 'These are the things that are happening these are the things that are going to affect you, and the next generation. ' I mean these are all the next farmers. I am going back to Congress and advocating for them and saying this is what’s important.”
Randy Feenstra is one of four Iowa Congress members, all of whom are Republican. Feenstra is running for re-election this fall.
