What Makes Iowa Great?

Submitted by Iowa Senate Republican Leader, Jerry Behn

What is it that makes Iowa so great?

It’s our incredible people and our welcoming communities. When you give Iowans the tools to succeed, there is very little we cannot do.

That’s why Senate Republicans are joining with Governor Branstad and House Republicans to lay out a unified and specific plan to build an Iowa with even stronger schools and communities.

Earlier this fall, we laid out our plan for a stronger Iowa economy and our plan for a more efficient and effective government.

Now, here are the details of our plan to make Iowa schools and communities stronger:

Advance education reforms that offer accountability, innovation and choice for parents

Achievement-driven Reforms

Focus state education spending on achievement-driven education reforms that align our investments with practices and programs that have demonstrated improving student performance.

Invest in Educational Leadership

Put a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal in every building.  Invest in a strategy that brings the best practices of high performing school districts to our schools and rewards those doing an extraordinary job.

More Choices for Parents and Students

Increase educational choice options to allow more parents and students to choose the educational environment that best suits their needs.

Promote career readiness and opportunities for future generations to prosper in Iowa

Utilize the Skilled Iowa Initiative to Encourage Job Growth

Promote our innovative Skilled Iowa initiative that assists job seekers and employers by determining a baseline of skills and providing resources to improve skills, internships to demonstrate those skills, and a pipeline to jobs that utilize those skills.

Engage Community Colleges to Promote Career Readiness

Build upon the record state investment in our community colleges which will help keep tuition affordable and provide the trained workforce Iowa needs to attract and maintain job creators.

Encourage Regents Institutions’ Research Efforts

Support university efforts to transition ideas, processes, and cutting edge products produced in our research parks to private sector opportunities and jobs for our graduates.

Expand and Promote STEM Education

Continue to grow the Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) initiative in Iowa by committing to legislation which increases opportunities and education in STEM related fields. 

Fight for Iowa solutions to meet Iowa needs for affordable patient-centered care

Protect Patients

Health care decisions are among the most personal a family ever has to make.  We must protect the relationship between a physician and a patient.

Support Governor’s Healthiest State Initiative

Support Governor Branstad’s Healthiest State Initiative to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation.  This privately led—publically endorsed - initiative empowers Iowans to take greater ownership of their well-being while its Blue Zone program will transform the overall health of our population.

Lower Cost and Increase Quality

Establish a unified set of quality measures across payer and provider networks to ensure we are paying for quality outcomes rather than for procedure volumes.  Emphasizing payment for quality, rather than quantity, will both improve health outcomes for vulnerable Iowans while also saving vital resources for hard working taxpayers.

Preserve values, freedoms, and liberties that are the foundation of Iowa

Protect Integrity of Elections

Protecting the integrity of our constitutional voting rights is fundamental to ensuring our ability to conduct free and fair elections.  Requiring Iowans to produce a photo ID before being allowed to vote is one small, but important, method for ensuring our elections are being decided by eligible voters.

Preserve Iowa’s Traditional Values

Give Iowans the opportunity to vote on the definition of marriage, protect the sanctity of life and defend Iowans’ constitutional right to bear arms.

Reaffirm State’s Rights

Oppose creeping federal intrusion into our state government to preserve our sovereignty and ensure federal one-size-fits-all “solutions” are not imposed on our citizens.

This common sense plan will help make Iowa’s schools and communities stronger.

If the right leadership is in place, we can do big things for Iowa and for Iowans.

Thanks for your time and as always, I want to hear from you and I 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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