Letter: Listening to local leaders could help state legislators

A friend shared with me how important it is for elected officials to listen to the communities they serve rather than caucus leadership that doesn’t care about Adair County or the noise from out-of-state groups focused on issues that won’t make our communities stronger. She’s on to something. A couple recently traveled the US visiting towns and small cities and talked to them about what makes their home towns great. No one brought up divisive politics.They talked about their schools, hospitals, recreational activities, community groups, businesses, and other reasonable things we all know enhance our quality of life.

There are many ways to hear Adair County voices, but one important channel  is attendance at the meetings of local leaders responsible for getting work done right here in our home county.  There is much to be learned from their discussions. The NV school board is grappling with a facilities’ evaluation, tight budgets, student learning, teacher shortages, kids suffering with mental health issues, and more. Certainly, there are some bills at the Statehouse that relate to those issues, but there are others that don’t, for instance the effort to make some topics taboo in the classroom and charter schools. Those come from out-of-state organizations or some legislator out-of-touch with the responsibilities of public education. The legislature doesn’t need to define what’s moral and what’s not for Adair County Schools or figure out one more way to cut into the funding for the public schools we currently have. But they do need to listen to local school boards, those people who live in our school district that we elected to make decisions for our children and our school district.

Other boards and commissions offer equally important information to our elected officials. Think what the priorities in the Legislature might be if Legislators sat in on meetings held by the Adair County Board of Supervisors, area Chambers of Commerce, the Adair County Health Systems Board of Trustees, city councils, the group in Stuart that had the vision and the wherewithal to put together the exceptional housing development east of town where new families are flocking. If I were a legislator I would want to know how that happened and how it could be replicated across Iowa. Listening at these meetings to the issues these local leaders grapple with could help state government officials understand the real needs of Iowans more than endless debate over hot button issues promoted on cable tv or supported by the party leaders.