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On a campaign swing through western Iowa today (yesterday/Tuesday), Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker met with students and teachers in Sergeant Bluff.
Booker wants to prioritize public education and special needs education.
At a roundtable discussion at Sergeant Bluff-Luton (LOOT-tin) Senior High School, Senator Cory Booker told teachers that special needs education should be federally funded at 40 percent.
(0:09) Right now we’re funding it at about 18 percent. And for communities that have high levels of special needs kids, this is often something that is putting the biggest burden on their budgets.
Booker says more federal funding would make a difference for districts like Sergeant Bluff-Luton.
The school district’s superintendent says they had a special education deficit of $250-thousand-dollars last year. If it were funded at 40 percent, the district wouldn’t need to rely as much on local property taxes to recover that deficit.
Booker also talked about the need to have a debt forgiveness program to encourage more people to work in schools.
Iowans can get a tax credit for donating to a private school’s scholarship fund for low-income students. However, A bill that’s cleared initial review in the state Senate would raise the current $13 million statewide cap on those tax credits by four million dollars.
Critics say the plan amounts to a 31 percent increase in funding for private school tuition, while Iowa public schools are getting just a two percent increase in per-pupil state spending.