Legislative Priorities

Several weeks ago the School Board established legislative priorities for the 2018-2019 school year.  Establishing legislative priorities is done so we can work in tandem with groups like the Iowa Association of School Boards and Iowa School Finance Information Services to promote and advocate for high-quality education services and funding to support our schools locally and across the State of Iowa.

Extending the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE), which was formerly the statewide sales and service tax, is one of the top priorities of this legislative session for our District and many others across the state.  SAVE generates approximately $980,000 in revenue for the District.  These funds are important as they are used to pay the debt on the existing elementary and middle school building, take care of larger infrastructure needs related to facilities and technology, replace equipment, and will be necessary to support the repairs and renovations that are being planned for the high school. These are critical funds for Iowa schools as they are used to ensure that facilities are cared for and well maintained.

The availability of SAVE funds will no longer be available after 2029.  While there is a fair amount of time before the revenue expires, it is important SAVE is addressed now so schools have the ability to plan and prioritize projects long term. Without SAVE districts will either defer necessary projects or request voters approve larger general obligation bonds which impact property tax.  Our District has used SAVE to pay our debt obligations.  Absent the SAVE revenue to pay this debt, property taxes would have been increased to a much higher level.  To be more specific, SAVE helped the district reduce property taxes by $1.00 for FY 18 $.94 in FY 17 and $1.04 in FY 16.  SAVE makes the difference.

Some may ask why we are talking about this in the middle of the summer while the legislative session is still months away. We are bringing this forward now as last year the legislature did not extend SAVE. There was solid support to extend SAVE in the House, but the Senate failed to vote on the issue.  It has been suggested SAVE will be a stronger priority this next session.  Many districts and supporting groups are working together raise awareness to ensure the Iowa Legislature moves forward with extending SAVE beyond the 2029 sunset.

I read a great article in the Des Moines register that highlights the importance of this effort.  You can read the same article here.