Senator Says Iowa Needs to Get Back on Top in Education

Submitted by Senator Jerry Behn

Iowans are proud of their local schools because we have a rich educational heritage.

Yet we must not let pride blind us from the reality that we have allowed standards, expectations, and accountability measures to slip, leaving our students at a growing disadvantage in the global marketplace.

Over the past decade, Iowa’s standing in education has stagnated significantly compared to the rest of the country. Simultaneously, we have spent billions of dollars on an annual basis and yet have not achieved the results our students deserve and parents and taxpayers expect.

However, Governor Branstad has made it a top priority to get Iowa education back on the right track in order to recapture our status as not just the nationwide – but worldwide leader in education.

Earlier this session, the Iowa House passed a substantial education reform package and this past week, the Iowa Senate Democrats unveiled their proposal. This week, the Senate started debate on the Senate Democrats’ education reform package. While there is some common ground between the two plans (House and Senate Democrats), the variances are quite significant.

Senate Republican Viewpoint on Education

Education should be about preparing our students to achieve success and be productive citizens. We believe education should be about achievement and teaching our children the necessary skills they need to successfully compete in the global marketplace. 

As such, let’s get back to setting high standards and expectations for our students and challenge them to reach their fullest potential. We believe students will rise to the challenge if we provide them with world-class standards, ambitious benchmarks and a rigorous curriculum grounded in the fundamentals of reading, writing, math, science, history and civics. We will know if it is working if we use nationally renowned measurements such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.

Key Amendments Offered

Keeping that viewpoint in mind, Senate Republicans offered several key, common sense amendments aimed at significantly improving education in Iowa. While the list below is just a few highlights, all of the Senate Republican amendments fell victim to partisan politics and were not adopted.

Alternative Licensure

• As it stands today, someone as brilliant as Steve Jobs, the late Apple founder, would not be allowed to teach computer science in an Iowa high school classroom because of the strict licensure requirements in Iowa. Many other states have developed alternative licensure so that talented individuals outside the realm of teaching can go through a process by which they could impart their knowledge on our children in a classroom.

End Last One In, First One Out

• Far too often, our young, talented and ambitious teachers get hired for a year or two, do great things in the classroom and then suddenly the district is in a budget crunch. These young teachers are let go first and the only reason is because they were the last ones hired. We believe making personnel decisions only on the basis of seniority does not make sense and is not in line with the private sector.

Extending Probationary Period

• Iowa currently has a probationary period of three years for new teachers and our amendment sought to extend that to five years. This is to ensure we have the best teachers in every classroom and that if a teacher is not working out, school districts will be able to make the needed personnel decisions that are best for our children.

Online Learning

• Having choices in education is vital and Senate Republicans sought to allow online learning to occur in Iowa. This would especially help out smaller, rural districts who cannot always afford to offer the same classes that bigger schools can. Our policy would still require a licensed Iowa teacher on either the originating or receiving end.  Overall, the policy would give more choice to our students while helping districts out.

It’s time we get back to the basics by empowering local school districts to take responsibility and have principals and superintendents once again working for the local school board and making local management decisions that will make the most sense for the students, the personnel and the district as a whole.

Principals and superintendents should be held responsible for improved student achievement but we should also give them the authority and latitude to make the best possible management decisions – instead of constantly tying their hands with more mandates from D.C. and Des Moines or demands from union bosses.

With nearly 60 percent of Iowa’s state budget devoted to some form of education spending, Iowans have every right to expect an educational product that prepares our students for college and employment. 

The bottom line is that everyone must be accountable for the success of our children. Students, parents, teachers, community leaders, schools, colleges of education and policymakers all need to be held accountable.

The rest of the world is starting to leave America behind and the rest of America is starting to leave Iowa behind.

Simply spending more money is not the answer.

If we fail to act, we are leaving our children, grandchildren and future generations of Iowans without the necessary skills they need to succeed.

When we get back to the basics, we will again be able to put our students first by preparing them to be productive citizens who possess the necessary skills and knowledge to compete with anyone else in the world.

That should be the outcome all of us want for our children and grandchildren and we should accept nothing less.

As always, I want to hear from you and can be reached by phone at 515-281-3560 or by e-mail at Jerry.Behn@legis.iowa.gov

Jerry Behn

Senate Republican Leader

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