Oh Jason Clayworth of The Des Moines Register had a “its for the children” moment. He reports that the Iowa House lack of action will keep school budgets where they are at or using his word… “stagnant.”
Of course it will. The House wanted zero allowable growth, the Iowa Senate who lives in budget la la land wanted 2% allowable growth. So the House doing nothing will accomplish that. Dick Murphy who is a member of the Des Moines Public Schools Board quoted by Clayworth said, “It’s Speaker Paulsen’s responsibility to work with the Senate and develop a good program that will help the students of this state. To assume we can get by on zero percent is fantasy thinking.”
Dick Murphy is also living in budget la la land where money evidently grows on trees. The budget must be cut and education makes up the lion’s share of the budget. Everybody in this economy has had to make sacrifices, local schools should as well – start with preschool, then move to non-essential services schools provide… also teacher could forego raises like many of us in the private sector have had to do the past couple of years. Wherever local school boards decide to do it, cuts can be made. Not that Murphy or the Des Moines school board would want to ever consider that since they actually want to raise Des Moines residents’ property taxes.
Murphy also called the House Republican leadership approach in the House cowardly. Why is that? They had a vote, and allowed debate.
Now compare that to the Iowa Senate with Majority Leader Mike Gronstalling (D-Council Bluffs) who hasn’t allowed a single bill he’s disagreed with to be debated or voted on. Now that’s cowardly.
Apparently in Dick Murphy’s mind cowardly is not acquiescing to Senate Democrat demands. That’s ridiculous.