Iowans understand the concept of erosion. We understand that rushing water damages a field, or a terrace causes a dam to collapse, or damages the integrity of a building’s foundation. Iowans understand that over time, unchecked or sustained amounts of water will change the contours or integrity of a field, terrace, or physical structure.
Since 2016 Iowa’s education system has also been eroding.
The Iowa legislature and governor are systematically eroding the bedrock and sustained structures of Iowa’s educational system, local government and public employees. The slow erosion of the power of local entities has been slow at times, but in the past three years, the pace has picked up leaving many school boards and locally elected officials powerless because of state laws passed furthering our governor’s political power and overreach.
Public education is eroding and not by accident. Funding for public education is minimal. Some Republicans in the Iowa legislature with the support of the governor diverted public tax dollars to private schools even though it was opposed by 70% of Iowans. We are witnessing the purposeful erosion of Iowa’s long history of providing quality public education for Iowa’s children.
The Iowa legislature and governor have eroded the local control of elected boards. The authority of school boards, cities, county supervisors, community college boards, library boards and AEA boards has borne the brunt of erosion. The legislature and governor are imposing their beliefs on all forms of government created in Iowa. It’s amazing how 151 individuals, elected to serve under the “Golden Dome” in Des Moines, know what’s best for every public entity in Iowa’s cities and counties.
School board authority has been eroded by the legislature and the governor by reaching deep into policies of the board’s decisions related to books in libraries, curriculum and policies related to transgender students and their families. It’s a blatant power grab to dictate public education policies and further marginalized communities. The legislation dismantles Area Education Agencies in an attempt to control support and funding for the special education community. The overt power grab by the governor is a sad example of how to provide appropriate educational support to special education students and the educators and paraeducators who work with them. It’s shameful.
Cities’ and counties’ ability to govern themselves and determine taxes and levies for public entities have been eroded. Property taxes have been reduced which might be celebrated. However, if taxes are reduced, which services will be eliminated? Will it be snow removal? Ambulance services? Fire departments? Access to parks and recreational areas? Who makes that choice? It will fall to the cities and county elected leaders who had no impact on the decisions to make the reduction. The locally elected boards will be held responsible.
The Iowa legislature and governor have eroded the rights of public employees. In 2017 collective bargaining was gutted, a law that had been in place since 1975. In nine days the legislature and then Governor Terry Branstad stripped public employees of bargaining anything but base wages. The impact on public employees was like the devastation caused by a 12-inch rain falling in less than three hours and causing damaged terraces, dam breaks, lowland flooding and cutting through every drainage ditch on a farm. Like the past historic floods in Iowa, the damage to public sector unions is detrimental.
Erosion over time goes unnoticed especially if you aren’t intimately involved with the affected area or group. If you’re not familiar with farming, erosion may not be a worry. Erosion reduces the value of property and its productivity. Those who aren’t public employees or serve on elected boards don’t live with the consequences of “erosion” forced upon them by the Iowa legislature and governor. Just like the reduction in the value of farmland, erosion caused by the power grab of the Iowa legislature and governor reduced the value of Iowa as a place to raise a family and encourage the next generation to remain.