LETTER: Legislators are allowing children to be left behind

The recent loss of East Union’s $75,000 Wrap Around Grant, reported by Nick Pauly April 29, isn’t just a set back for area families, it’s an example of a state administration that overlooks the needs of rural communities.

This grant-funded before- and after-school care service is one that working families depend on. As a person who has raised children as a single parent while working, I don’t know that I could have done it without the cost of care offset by such grants or the availability of such a resource, in general.

For decades, East Union applied, received and stewarded this funding responsibly. It’s absurd that, with no warning, the program was abruptly discontinued. And only AFTER staff spent time and resources submitting its 37-page required proposal.

To add insult to injury, the funding was rerouted to a new program that East Union doesn’t qualify for, simply because they don’t have an independent preschool partner. In Afton, no such partner exists. If you truly care about our rural towns, the local economy, the well-being of the children raised in Union County, you should be angry. The requirement of isn’t just impractical. It’s exclusionary. This decision will affect our local workforce as a result.

East Union is doing everything right: complying with state requirements, seeking funding and adapting their facilities to better serve kids. Yet despite their best effort, legislators are allowing children to be left behind. This is just another example of how rural communities are overlooked in one-size-fits-all legislation.

I hope Tom and Devon are reading this. For many rural communities, schools are often the only providers families have. We can’t build equitable early childhood systems by leaving small districts out of the equation.

Peggy Hardy and the team at East Union deserve our thanks and our advocacy. This isn’t just about one school. It’s about whether the state of Iowa values all of its children, no matter their ZIP code.