Prichard talks with school board about funding, education policy

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Iowa state Rep. Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, told the Charles City Community School District Board of Education that the results of the most recent election don’t make him optimistic when it comes to any increase in school funding.

“I do not expect much change in policy or in education initiatives,” Prichard told the board. “I don’t see a different approach. I don’t see much of a change from what we’ve seen the last two years under Republican control.”

Prichard, a Democrat, represents Iowa House District 52, which includes Chickasaw, Floyd and Cerro Gordo counties. He was unopposed in the election, and will start his fourth term in the Iowa House when the next legislative session begins on Jan. 11.

He said that one of his primary concerns will be maintaining education funding.

“To me, that’s been a bit disconcerting because it’s been a challenge for school funding,” he said.

Prichard, who serves on the Agriculture, Judiciary, State Government, Veterans Affairs, and Ways and Means committees, presented the board with an update of the legislative session Monday, offering some prepared remarks before taking questions from the directors. Although he didn’t mention it to the school board Monday, Prichard has publicly acknowledged that he’s considering a run at Iowa House Minority Leader.

He said there would be no change in the makeup or control of the Iowa House. In the election, Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate and kept the majority in the House, although that did narrow.

“It’s very likely the makeup will be 47 democrats and 53 republicans,” Prichard said, and added that there is one House race in Iowa still going through a recount.

He told the board that with Republican incumbent Gov. Kim Reynolds getting reelected — and with Democrats still the minority party in both legislative bodies — Iowans should expect both tax cuts and budget cuts.

“Governor Reynolds campaigned primarily on tax cuts, which, if we can afford them, they’re great,” he said, but he warned that with the tax cuts, it’s almost certain there will be budget cuts as well, and that’s likely to include more cuts in education funding.

“With education funding being approximately 60 percent of the state’s budget, when you’re looking to make cuts, it’s pretty hard to look past 60 percent of the pie,” Prichard said.

Prichard did say that there were education issues where he felt the two parties could find some common ground, however, and pointed to some success he had last session when he co-sponsored a bi-partisan lunch-shaming bill.

“This is basically children who come to school who may not have money on their account,” he said. “There have been issues locally and across the state in the past. Children have been ostracized, they’ve been identified publicly as having insufficient funds.”

The bill to which Prichard referred was House File 2467, which requires school districts to provide information twice annually to all parents and guardians regarding the application process for free and reduced meals, and additionally if a student owes lunch debt for five or more meals.

The legislation, which passed both chambers and was signed into law by Gov. Reynolds last April, also encourages school districts to provide a reimbursable meal to any student requesting it, and prohibits schools from publicly identifying students with lunch debt.

Prichard said there have been incidents across the state where children have had “insufficient funds” stamped on their hands.

“Personally, that strikes me as very insulting,” said Prichard, who added that he hopes the legislation will change that, and he hopes to expand on the efforts from the last session.

“We’re making the schoolhouse a place where everyone feels that they are treated well, where they come in as citizens,” Prichard said.

Prichard also told the board that he hopes to expand job training opportunities for students across the state, and that this could be another area where Republicans and Democrats might be able to find some common ground.

“Governor Reynolds did campaign on that, and I think that’s one area where she can find a lot of bipartisan support,” he said.

Prichard called the community college system in Iowa “outstanding,” but said that unfortunately, many K-12 systems have failed to integrate programs to meet local and regional labor needs.

“In school boards across the state, a few do well, many do not do well — or at all,” he said.

Prichard said that in the 14 school districts that he represents in District 52, all of them can find ways to work with community colleges and private employers to provide critical and needed job training programs for local labor markets.

“Employers are willing partners, if asked, and if they see opportunities,” he said. “I really think that districts that are not finding those partnerships and are not finding that programming are missing the boat. They are putting their communities at risk over the long term.”

Prichard said such programs are not only important to him as a state legislator, but also as a member of the community.

“Jobs of the future are going to require much more than a high school education,” he said. “They’re going to require skills that community colleges are doing the best job of providing.”