ROZENBOOM: Significant changes to education would be a mistake in 2025 legislative session

Editor’s note: The following story is the second in a three-part series going over the priorities of lawmakers who represent Jasper County communities. The issues covered do not represent all of what legislators want to accomplish but merely a small handful of what they consider top priorities.

Iowa State Sen. Ken Rozenboom of District 19 is no longer chair of the Senate Education Committee, which means he can concentrate more on issues not solely related to education. Even so, the longtime lawmaker still wants to fine-tune some education-related matters and not make any major changes.

Rozenboom had asked to not chair any committees this year. He had served as the chairman of the Iowa Senate Education Committee for the past few years, taking over for Sen. Amy Sinclair. But this session he said he is taking a different role behind the scenes and will be working closely with newer lawmakers.

Iowa State Sen. Lynn Evans will take over the Senate Education Committee this year, giving Rozenboom a bit of a break. To chair a committee like that at a time when a number of changes were made to the Iowa school system made it easy for Rozenboom to get lost in education and lose track of everything else.

Significant changes were made to the Iowa education system, most notably the reform of the Area Education Agencies (AEAs) and the introduction of educational savings accounts (ESAs) or what critics call vouchers. Rozenboom expects there to be continued fine-tuning of those issues, but nothing major.

Both subjects received widespread attention and generated a fair amount of controversy. Rozenboom went so far as to say it would be a “mistake” to make any more major changes in the 2025 legislative session. People need a chance to catch their breath and adjust to the new normal.

“Let’s keep in mind in the past four years, yes, we talked about changes to the AEA, we talked about the change of school choice. But four years ago we were fighting COVID and we had to deal with all that meant, whether it was using technology or remote learning more,” Rozenboom said.

There has been a lot of dynamic changes in the educational environment, he added, so it is time to “settle down” now for a while.

Over the years, the largely Republican-controlled legislature has checked off a number of things on its list that it wanted done. Rozenboom firmly believes Iowa is in a really nice place right now. He doesn’t feel a driving need to change a whole lot, but rather maintain the course and achieve a balanced budget.

Still, taxes are also a priority for Rozenboom. It is an issue that affects every Iowan, he said, and they are “pretty loudly” telling lawmakers that property taxes are a burden. As a former county supervisor, Rozenboom knows just how complex property taxes can be. Nevertheless, people feel the effects.

Whether taxpayers understand the system or not, many feel like they are paying too much. While most of that burden relies on local governments, the state still sets the property tax system. Rozenboom said educating the public on what they are paying and how much of their money goes to their taxing entities will help.

“Property taxes are associated with the county because the county collects them, but property tax revenues go to counties, to cities, to schools and also to other taxing entities like community colleges and so forth,” Rozenboom said. “…Most people don’t realize how much property tax goes to education.”

Knowing how assessments, assessed values and taxable values factor into the equation would also be beneficial. Rozenboom said it comes down to better transparency and getting the public to better understand where their money is going year to year.

“If I paid $3,000 in property taxes last year, where did that $3,000 go? I think each taxpayer ought to know this much went to the schools, this much went to the City of Newton, this much went to Jasper County, this much went to the hospital, this much went to the community college,” Rozenboom said.

When more people understand the system, Rozenboom said they are more likely to interact with their local governments better. But addressing property taxes is nothing new in the Iowa Legislature. Rozenboom said a similar approach was attempted two or three years ago but it did not seem to help.

“It almost seemed to confuse things more to me,” he said. “But it’s my own personal interest to find ways to make it more transparent and more understandable.”

Rozenboom said the governor has publicly stated she wants to do something about cellphone usage in K-12 schools, and he agrees. Regardless of party affiliation, he said, it is an issue many people care about or support. Rozenboom said cellphones are becoming disruptive to education.

Perhaps the bigger problem with cellphones, he added, is the negative effects that come with social media. To him, it is affecting the mental health of children.

“Obviously the governor is putting that front and center,” Rozenboom said.

Personally, Rozenboom’s natural inclination to this issue is to let it be resolved by each individual school and its respective communities. Some schools, he said, are doing a good job of that while others are reluctant to go that direction. The governor is certainly going to challenge legislators to find a solution.

Rozenboom said he is willing to listen to the other side of the conversation that says it should be a consistent, statewide policy.

“I’ll listen to that argument and then I’m going to hope we land somewhere in between, meaning that the state maybe establishes a minimum guidelines but we allow schools some flexibility on how we implement that so it’s not a one-size-fits-all mandate from the state,” Rozenboom said.