Education expected to be big topic at Legislature

Education

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January 9, 2012

By Mike Glover, Associated Press Associated Press Mon Jan 09, 2012, 05:30 AM CST

DES MOINES — The Iowa Legislature will consider big changes to the state's public school system when it convenes Monday, though officials have opted to delay plans to revamp how teachers are paid.

Gov. Terry Branstad on Friday announced a $25 million plan that includes raising standards for people who want to enter the teaching profession and requiring them to pass competency tests. The governor also wants to increase testing of young children and students in high school, with intense help given to those who test poorly.

Branstad argued the changes will "put us on a path to make Iowa schools among the best in the world," and his top education adviser, Linda Fandel, said she was ready to sell the proposal to educators.

The governor's proposal, which also include lessening the importance of teacher seniority, are part of a 10-year plan drawn up by Education Department Director Jason Glass.

Faced with skepticism from educators and others, Branstad delayed plans to pay teachers based on a tiered system that increased salaries for beginning teachers and let teacher move through a series of pay grades based on performance in the classroom, but Glass said the other proposals were equally significant.

"There are still a number of school reform pieces to pursue," said Glass. "Even as we slow down the education compensation the remaining components are fairly sweeping."

Branstad said the ability to pay for his proposals would play a key role in determining how long his planned overhaul would take, but he cautioned that no one should expect instant change or immediate results.

The governor held an education summit last summer to gather ideas, and most speakers agreed change would take time.

"If there was anything we heard at the education summit, it was there are no silver bullets. You don't pass in one year a piece of legislation that says, OK, education is now fixed," said Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs. "It's got to be a multi-year effort. The states that have been successful have been a decade, two decades to move themselves up the ranks."

House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy credited Branstad for including Democrats in negotiations about the education proposals.

House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, also was supportive of the governor's effort, but he said the additional costs could delay the changes. Roughly 58 percent of the state's $6 billion budget goes to education programs of one kind or another, and Paulsen said increasing the education budget could be a hard sell since the state's economy remains somewhat fragile.

"We will still work on education policy, but it's going to be another tight budget time and I'm not anticipating any dramatic changes," Paulsen said.