Featured Stories
– Hills Elementary School to close at the end of the school year, Iowa City Board of Education decides
– Anamosa releases sewage to Wapsipinikon after equipment failure
– AEA changes, education funding and teacher pay increases signed into law by Iowa Governor Reynolds
Episode transcription
Hills Elementary School will soon close at the end of the school year.
And the DNR has since asked Iowans to stay away from Wapsipinicon after an equipment failure caused sewage to flow into the river.
Additionally, changes to the AEA, education funding, and teacher pay increases were signed into law Wednesday.
Welcome to the Thursday, March 28th edition of the Gazette Daily News Podcast. This podcast provides a quick look at the latest headlines from The Gazette newsroom. I'm Bailey Cichon.
First, the Iowa City Board of Education decided Tuesday to close Hills Elementary School at the end of the school year. The closure is part of the Iowa City Community School District's efforts to preserve its educational programs and staff. The board said it does not want to close schools, but it is in the best interest of students because the budget would have to be significantly reduced.
said school board member Lisa Williams. I believe these programs are essential to the student experience and will continue to pursue reductions to save operating costs. ”
The closure will save the district approximately $1.66 million. This would bring the district inching closer to meeting her $7.5 million in spending cuts over the next two years.
Williams said $24.7 million has been cut from the district's spending plan over the past three years. It did so by eliminating 11 administrative positions, offering early retirement plans for teachers and delaying the purchase of an estimated “desperately needed curriculum.” End quote.
Williams said the budget cuts were the result of decades of “chronic and persistent underfunding by the state.”
Approximately 100 local residents attended the meeting, and 20 people appealed to the board to keep the school open.
Hills Elementary School is one of the most diverse schools in the district and also the smallest school in the district. Approximately 36 percent of Hills students are Hispanic or Latino, and more than 13 percent are Black. Approximately 70 percent of Hills students are economically disadvantaged. Only about 45 students who attend Hills live in the town. Other students go to school by bus. This school has the highest cost per student of any school in the district.
School Board President Rutina Malone said she and the school board take full responsibility for the decision to close Hills Elementary School.
Teachers at the school will also have the option of being reassigned to other schools within the district. Students will continue to have access to the services available at Hills, including preschool.
For more information on the board's decision, read the full story linked in the description of this episode.
Then on Wednesday, Anamosa accidentally released 50,000 gallons of untreated sewage into the Wapsipinicon River after an equipment failure occurred Wednesday morning. The equipment failure occurred at a lift station at the city's wastewater treatment plant, allowing sewage to flow into a storm drain that connects to the river. City officials say the bypass has been fixed and cleaning is underway. For now, the Iowa DNR is warning recreational users not to enter the river. No dead fish have been observed so far.
On Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed legislation that makes major changes to the funding and operations of Iowa's nine local education agencies, increases funding for state schools and increases in teacher pay.
At a bill signing ceremony at the Iowa State Capitol, Reynolds said the new law will improve special education for students with disabilities. She concluded by saying that while the AEA system works well for some students, her quote is “not the experience for all students.” The legislation achieves a goal Ms. Reynolds set out in her State of the Nation speech about three months ago. But the bill she signed into law was a stripped-down version of her original proposal.
Democrats strongly opposed Iowa's AEA changes, arguing they were unnecessary. Here's what Democratic Rep. Jennifer Confirst of Windsor Heights told reporters: “When you look at the celebration that (Reynolds) is having, I want you to think about the families who are now very worried about what will happen to (AEA) services in their communities and what will happen to their lives. . Kids being served by AEA. They have a lot of questions.”
The new law would increase state funding for Iowa's K-12 public schools by 2.5% next school year. It would also increase the minimum salary for first-year public school teachers from $33,500 to $47,500 starting in the 2024-2025 school year. Next year it will rise to $500,000. It also sets the minimum salary for teachers with at least 12 years of experience at $60,000 for the next school year and $62,000 for the following year. The legislation also earmarks her $22 million budget for the next school year to address the salaries of other veteran teachers. This increases to $23 million the following year. The budget also includes $14 million to increase salaries for educational support staff such as paraeducators. Additionally, this legislation changes the operation and funding of local educational institutions. Rather than sending funds directly to AEAS, it works with school districts to maintain some of the funding for special education, other education, and media services. It would also move oversight of special education from the AEA to the state education department and create a task force to review and recommend future changes to the AEA.
As always, links to each story featured in today's episode can be found in the episode description or on Gazette.com.
So let's take a look at the weather in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It will be cloudy today. The expected high temperature is 47 degrees and the low temperature is 30 degrees. It seems that tomorrow will be a cloudy day. The expected high temperature is 59 degrees and the low temperature is 43 degrees.
Thank you for listening to the Gazette Daily News Podcast. Get the latest news from Eastern Iowa at Gazette.com. I'm Bailey Cichon.
Comment: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com
