DES MOINES, Iowa — Eighteen hours after the Iowa Senate Republican caucus voted through the funding for public schools for fiscal year 2026, the party in the Iowa House moved to do the same.
The bill locks in a 2% increase in per-pupil funding, averaging around $157 more per student, House Republicans initially asked for a 2.25% increase. There were several more increases to the funding equation pushed by the House Republican Caucus since it’s education funding plan was released earlier in the year.
House Republicans asked for increasing per-pupil equity by $10, it was settled down to five dollars in the final agreement with Senate Republicans. House Republicans pushed for an increase to school transportation to a statewide average of $430, which was estimated to be $5.3 million, the final agreement ended at a 5% increase, which totaled around $1 million. Republicans in both chambers agreed to a bump of 21 to 25 positions for the operational sharing budget. House Republicans had a one-time 0.6% SSA funding increase in the original caucus proposal, but that was dropped in the final agreement, which would have added $22.6 million to the budget. Regardless of what was dropped, the caucus remained optimistic about the proposal when debating on the floor.
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“Overall, this plan increases total funding by $105.9 million over last year, a 2.8% increase that strengthens our schools from top to bottom,” said State Representative Dan Gehlbach (R), District 46 from Urbandale. “… House Republicans didn’t just accept the first offer on the table. We fought for more. When we first voted on this bill, we wanted more. But this plan isn’t everything we originally voted on, but it’s a hard fought victory that moves us forward.”
House and Senate Democrats proposed a 5% increase to SSA funding, but being in the minority the plan never saw the light of day.
“It just isn’t enough,” said House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst (D), District 32 from Windsor Heights. “We hear all the time schools won’t bet better by throwing money at them, and I agree. I think schools get better when we fully fund teachers, paraprofessionals, we helps schools pay the light bill, we help schools provide the services that kids need in the classroom.”
“Folks, we can’t even meet inflation numbers. 2% is not enough. I’m hoping, and I was hoping in that two months our House Republicans would negotiate a little bit harder with the Senate Republicans. But it appears as though all it took was two months for them to ultimately cave to what the senate Republicans wanted. And now we are in a position where many of our school districts, at least half of them, are looking at raising property taxes,” said State Representative Larry McBurney (D), District 44 from Urbandale.
The bill passed by a vote of 60 to 36, and public school funding is officially heading to Governor Kim Reynolds’ desk to be signed into law. Public school districts must have budgets certified by April 15, with the final version filed to the State Department of Education by the end of the month.
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