Education funding leads list of topics discussed by area legislators at March 17 public forum


Area residents discuss issues with legislators at March 17 forum ... Senator Mike Breitbach of Iowa's 28th District, Representative Michael Bergan of Iowa House District 55 and Representative Kristi Hager of Iowa House District 56 (left to right in upper right corner of the above photo) hosted a legislative forum Saturday, March 17 at the Allamakee County Farm Bureau office in Waukon. Among the topics most discussed were education funding, the fetal "heartbeat" abortion bill and immigration laws. Standard photo by Joe Moses.

by Joe Moses

Senator Mike Breitbach of Iowa's 28th District, Representative Michael Bergan of Iowa House District 55 and Representative Kristi Hager of Iowa House District 56 hosted a legislative forum Saturday, March 17 at the Allamakee County Farm Bureau office in Waukon. The event was an opportunity for the public to have discussion with State of Iowa legislators representing their area.

The forum began with introductions and brief comments from Hager, Bergan and Breitbach before questions and comments were heard from the public, with approximately 20 members of the public in attendance. President Liang Wee, Ph.D. of Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) opened the public discussion by thanking the legislators for work that has been done with the Future Ready Iowa bill, legislation with the goal of having over 70% of Iowans achieve post-secondary education and training by 2025, which Dr. Wee indicated recently passed through the House with a unanimous vote of 98-0.

Traci Byrnes of Waukon discussed concerns with Student Tuition Organization (STO) tax credits and corporate tax credits, indicating that they have negatively impacted public school budgets. Breitbach relayed the positive impact of the approximately 30,000 private school students benefiting from STO tax credits while eliminating some burden on State budgets. Hager added that education accounts for the largest increase in State budget changes over the last six years, and further explained that budget growth has continued and several variables involved with tax credits are helping keep Iowa competitive.

Later in the meeting, Hager discussed additional education-related topics, including public school funding, homeschooling being a choice and, as a result, only qualifying for a tax credit. She said she would not support the Education Savings Account (ESA) bill and, as a result, the bill did not come out of the committee process. Hager indicated that she would be willing to consider an increase to the cap on STO tax credits.

Andy Kelleher, candidate for Iowa House District 56, discussed transportation equity, the higher costs associated with rural schools transporting students in comparison to urban school districts, with rural school budgets being negatively affected. Kelleher thanked the representatives for addressing the issue but relayed concerns from area school district superintendents that this legislation only has a one-year guarantee, not allowing long-term planning or budgeting.

Breitbach indicated that his original vision was for a ten-year plan but the House approved the Senate plan for a one-year period. Breitbach indicated that he intends to see the transportation bill fully funded for consistency moving forward, an issue he will continue to push forward due to high transportation costs negatively affecting local rural school districts. Hager and Bergan discussed variables with revenue and Federal tax reform creating difficulties in locking in growth in the long-term budgeting process for this measure.

Several members of the public in attendance commented on the fetal "heartbeat" abortion bill, with arguments for and against being discussed with the panel of representatives. Senate File 481, an act relating to the enforcement of immigration laws and the possible denial of funds for non-compliant cities, was discussed, including the role of local law enforcement in cooperation with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The representatives responded to other questions relating to the bottle deposit bill and the use of traffic cameras in Iowa before the public forum came to a close.