School board determines FY24 legislative priorities

Members of the Newton Community School District Board of Education last month decided their top five legislative priorities for fiscal year 2024.

In a 7-0 vote, the school board determined its priorities for the next year to be, in ranking order: dropout/at-risk, mental health, teacher professional development and retention, preschool and supplemental state aid. Teacher professional development and retention and preschool were the newest additions.

In fiscal year 2023, the Newton school board’s priorities were: dropout/at-risk, mental health, teacher recruitment and licensure, school funding and supplemental state aid. Robyn Friedman, chair of the school board, said the legislative priorities have been fairly consistent from past years.

However, teacher recruitment and licensure was added to the board’s priority list last year. Friedman encouraged fellow school board member Donna Cook, who has served as the legislative liaison for the board the past few years, to provide any additional feedback for the fiscal year 2024 priorities.

“Personally, I’m just stuck on school funding,” Cook said. “Nothing else really matters to me at this point if we don’t have the dollars to run our schools.”

Friedman agreed, particularly when it comes to supplemental state aid. With theprivate school vouchers/education savings accounts going above the estimated — and budgeted — costs, she stressed public schools need to still keep their foot in the door as far as funding is concerned.

Superintendent Tom Messinger cautioned board members of thinking the solution for teacher recruitment and licensure to be making it easier to get a teaching license or that school districts just need more licenses to be given out to people. This is partly why board members changed their priority to retaining staff.

The priorities will be submitted to the Iowa Association of School Boards, an advocacy group that represents several school districts in the state and pushes for legislative support. The nonprofit organization also provides resources to school boards to enhance organizational efficacy and responsiveness.

Here is a breakdown of each of Newton’s fiscal year 2024 priorities, according to the information provided by IASB:

• Dropout/At-Risk ensures the school board strives to provide every student with services they need to remain in school, progress and graduate to become productive citizens. This means the board supports dropout prevention policies and funding for at-risk students, knowing socio-economic status plays a factor.

• Mental health support for students shows the school board sees the need to address concerns and support state policies establishing comprehensive school and community mental health systems, which offer a wide variety of both preventative and treatment services.

• Teacher professional development and retention means the board wants an effective workforce in the district. The board supports policies that provide beginning teacher mentoring programs, offer retention incentives and allow flexibility to pay school staff market competitive wages, among other things.

• Preschool is a priority, and the school board supports policies that ensure all school districts have the capacity to serve all 4- and 5-year-olds. The board also supports allowing districts to provide full-day programing, transportation and wraparound care, in addition to necessary behavioral services.

• Supplemental state aid continues to be a priority for the school board, and it supports policies that sufficiently assists the ability of districts to meet parent and community expectations and provide world-class education for all students. The board also supports providing resources to recruit and retain quality staff.