(Des Moines)– Legislation introduced by House Republicans would increase state spending on Iowa’s public K-through-12 schools by two-and-a-half percent. That’s slightly more than a two-and-a-quarter percent increase Republicans in the Senate have proposed.
House Speaker Pat Grassley says “we’re in line, obviously, with the governor’s number, so I don’t think we’re out on an island.”
Governor Reynolds proposed that public schools, community colleges and the three state universities all get a two-and-a-half percent boost in state support next academic year.
Grassley says House Republicans are introducing a separate bill that would provide an additional 19-million dollars to Iowa’s school districts. It stipulates that schools would only be able to use that extra money to cover pay for substitute teachers, bus drivers and other staff brought into schools to cover worker shortages.
Democrats in the legislature have proposed a five percent increase in per pupil state spending.
