Though each Iowan seems to have his or her own ideas for how money should be cut from the budget, few blame the Democrats for overspending on their key priorities over the past few years.

In all, majorities support Democrats’ expansion of health insurance coverage for children, spending on public schools, repairing roads and bridges, raising teacher pay, and developing renewable energy. A plurality supports expanded free preschool.

On most budget items, pluralities of Iowans agree with the idea of cutting everything by an equal amount, except when it comes to health insurance for low-income residents and the Iowa State Patrol, which majorities say should be spared from cuts. This seems to conform to Gov. Chet Culver’s decision to make an across-the-board budget cut now and use the beginning of the legislative session next year to restore some funding for key priorities.

That said, Iowans have mixed feelings about the decisions that have been made to cut the state budget. Though only 19 percent of respondents said they were “Very Confident” or “Mostly Confident” about the budget-cutting decisions, 44 percent were “Just Somewhat Confident.” 35 percent were not confident.

(Incidentally, it seems strange that this question had three positive responses and just one negative response. These responses may fit people’s opinions best, but they also can also be confusing to interpret. The Register story itself seems to add up “Somewhat Confident” and “Not Confident” to demonstrate a disapproving majority, but “Somewhat Confident” doesn’t sound very disapproving to me. It was the closest thing to a middle ground that pollsters offered, and it implies slight approval, not disapproval.)

You can read the Register’s write-up of the poll here.

The project would create a central location for people to store the college credits they have received from multiple institutions. Colleges and universities then essentially would bid for the opportunity to enroll students for the completion of their degrees.

The study is being funded by a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Iowa Pride Network has released the finding from its 2009 School Climate Survey. Click to access the full report.

The Iowa Pride Network, a statewide organization that works to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning students, released its 2009 School Climate Survey today, the third in the biennial series.

While the 203 students who agreed to take the survey reported a decrease in the number of verbal attacks based on sexual orientation, gender or race, they also reported a significant increase in the amount of physical violence in their lives.

And, from responses to new questions added to the survey this year, it is clear that harassment and abusive situations are much more likely to begin a chain of events that can lead to LGBT students harboring suicidal thoughts.

“The whole point of the study is that it can serve as a guidepost for the public, community stakeholders, teachers and principals so that they can really take a look and reflect on where we are now,” said Ryan Roemerman, executive director of IPN.

“No matter how wonderful a teacher or administrator may think their school is, there is something valid in this survey for everyone. They can look at what these students have reported and decide what they could be doing better, because we know that we can always do better.”

The 2007 survey results were collected before the impact of legislative-mandated changes to the state’s Civil Rights Act and anti-bullying policies to include references to sexual orientation and gender identity could be assessed. Since the 2009 survey was the first that would measure the effectiveness of the changes, organizers were hoping to see movement toward greater student safety. What they found, however, was that more than half of the survey respondents did not know what the Iowa Safe Schools law is, and that roughly 72 percent did not feel that their school had adopted such a law.

“It seems like that since we have a safe schools law that everything should be find, but it is not fine,” Roemerman said. “As we all know, a law isn’t any good unless it is enforced.”

Surveys were collected earlier this year from May to June, and included 88 LGBT students, 86 LGBT-affirming straight students and 29 non-LGBT-affirming straight students. Although the surveys were distributed and collected in the months directly following an Iowa Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage in the state, there was no direct question about the current event as a part of the survey. While it may seem reasonable to believe that some of the tension and celebration surrounding that event may be reflected within the survey results, Roemerman said there is simply no way to measure the role of marriage equality in the results.

“I can’t say that because there wasn’t a question on that,” Roemerman said. “I think we can pretty much access that students do pick up on what they hear in their home, but I don’t know if that was reflected in these students’ feelings or not. I’m sure some people might draw that conclusion, but I’m not going to. But, I think that some people might look at that as a possibility.”

When compared with 2007 results, the 2009 survey respondents were less likely to report having heard a homophobic remark in their school, and were also less likely to have been verbally or physically harassed — pushed or shoved — because of their sexual orientation. The 2009 results regarding physical assault — punching, kicking or weapon injuries — were significantly higher than what was reported in either 2007 or 2005. Sixteen percent of students reported some incident of physical assault because of their sexual orientation or gender expression.

“How I look at bullying and harassment is that it often starts with the verbal,” Roemerman said. “You know, a student will say things like ‘you are gay’ or ‘you are a faggot’ and it will start there. If no one intervenes then it tends to move to harassment. And then, after harassment, it starts to move to actual physical assault. So, to me, if we can stop the verbal harassment where it starts, then I think we are on a good path.”

Because IPN is seeing an uptick in violence, the group is launching a “Make It Real” manual that will help students understand the law changes, and how each can be applied to different situations. An online public service announcement about the manual and where to download it is also being distributed through social networking and other affiliated groups.

Roemerman reports that IPN has also worked closely with the Iowa Department of Education to create a standardized incident report form used by the schools and received by the state to include a check box for all the categories specified in the safe schools law.

“There was this jumbled narrative as to why someone was harassed,” he said. “What we asked the Department of Education to do was develop a report that would have all the categories so that the state can really monitor and find out how many students get picked because of sexual orientation or race. They will actually be able to have hard numbers instead of having a certain percentage of the incidents just being listed as ‘other’ on a form.”

The new reporting form is being piloted this year, according to Roemerman, and is expected to become a mandatory practice next year.

Another key piece for IPN is the creation of a Safe Schools Certification Program to reward schools that do reach beyond the basics of what is required to ensure that their staff and students understand the law.

“There is a difference between a school that simply says to look in this section of the student handbook, or to view this file on a Web site, to find out what the law is and a school that is really pro-active,” Roemerman said. “Technically, those schools that do the least are fulfilling their requirement, but what we are looking for is schools to go beyond that. We are looking for schools to make sure that their teachers discuss it and that their students know what it means and how they are protected.”

In addition to the new programs, IPN will continue to foster a network of gay-straight alliances and diversity groups throughout the state.

“It’s important to have these groups available because these are spaces where students feel comfortable,” Roemerman said.

In order to help all of Iowa’s students feel safe why they are at school, all Iowans — administrators, teachers, parents and even the general public — are going to need to become more involved.

“We know that students who feel they are not safe skip school, and that impacts their academic achievement. We also know that students who reported that they felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation were two times as likely as those who had not felt unsafe to report that they had considered suicide. Students who were verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation were 93 percent more likely to have considered suicide,” Roemerman said.

“This was the first time that we asked questions about suicidal thoughts and, for me, what we found was just really disturbing.”

In a statement last week, Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, R-Wilton, and Rep. Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, said the $130,000 trip is “well intentioned” but ultimately a bad idea.

That criticism was echoed on Monday when Danny Homan, president of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 61, called on the school to cancel the trip.

School officials defended the trip to The Des Moines Register, saying the university’s hospital has scored poorly on patient satisfaction surveys and the trip aims to turn that around, saying it is important to “reinvest in the business.”

Homan said in light of Gov. Chet Culver’s recent decision to cut 10 percent from the state’s budget, and the fact that the decision will result in hundreds of layoffs, the timing of the trip is bad.

“Even more insulting is that this trip includes a free visit to Disney World, so that these attendees can enjoy a day at a theme park while others right now are sitting on pins and needles worrying about whether or not they will have a job as the holidays approach,” he said.

Research by the Iowa City-based public policy research and analysis organization found that the state can garner $3.70 in increased tax revenue for every dollar invested in helping a low-income adult get an associates degree and $2.40 for every dollar invested in a bachelor’s degree.

The group points to a projected shortage of skilled labor combined with the rising cost to families for postsecondary education as proper motivation to invest in the state’s workforce.

“When low-income adults have access to increased education and training, their lifetime earnings increase substantially, generating tax revenue for the state that more than offsets the cost of investing in this access,” said Lily French, research associate and outreach coordinator for Iowa Policy Project, later adding: “An investment in workforce skills would prepare Iowans for the future and contribute to rebuilding our economy.”

Iowa’s largest school district will see its budget cut by $15.7 million, according to figures released by the governor’s office Friday (.xls). However, the governor’s office points out that the district has more than $26 million in cash reserves. In announcing the budget cuts Thursday, Culver said he would ask the legislature to pass a bill forcing school districts to use their cash reserves in lieu of property tax increases in order to avoid deep cuts and extensive layoffs.

“Right now there is roughly $400 million in cash reserves in our 365 school districts,” Culver said. “So as we tighten our belt, we’re asking those local school districts to do the same.”

Chris Bern, president of the Iowa State Education Association, a union that represents more than 34,000 education employees, came out in support of the Culver’s plan early Friday, saying the cash reserves can help avoid “poor choices that would have an adverse effect in the long-run.”

Jack Hill, president of the Iowa Association of School Boards, did not address Culver’s plan directly, instead saying all options should be evaluated before any decision is made.

Des Moines School Superintendent Nancy Sebring said that while the district was able to avoid taking drastic steps after Culver cut the state’s budget 1.5 percent last year, there are no guarantees this time around.

“During the last round of reductions we were able to ensure services and educational programs were largely untouched,” she said. “This time, everything is subject to review and there are no guarantees that will occur again.”

The district’s director of community relations, Leigh  McGivern, could not confirm the governor’s estimate of cash reserves, saying that data is currently being analyzed.

Cedar Rapids Community School District will see the second biggest reduction, with its projected budget cut totaling more than $8 million. That district has more than $23 million in cash reserves, the governor’s office said.

Dubuque Community Schools will face a $5 million budget reduction with only $701,000 in cash reserves. As of the 2007-2008 school year, the district has 10,728 students enrolled in its schools.

All told, the governor’s office estimates the budget cuts for K-12 education will total around $238 million. The combined cash reserves for all of Iowa’s school districts totals more than $405 million.

According to the governor’s data (.xls), there are 45 districts with a negative ending balance. The largest, nearly $5 million, belongs to the Southeast Polk Community School District. The district will see its budget cut $2.7 million.

“The governor understands that not every district will be able to cover the 10 percent reduction with their reserves, and they will have to determine what is best for them,” said Troy Price, Culver’s press secretary. “But, most have reserve funds, and the Governor believes that to help lessen the impact of this cut on Iowans, those districts need to utilize their reserves, not raise property taxes. “

Files:

• Impact of budget cuts on school districts (.xls)
• School district cash reserves from FY08 (.xls)

UPDATE at 3 p.m. — The Des Moines Independent Community School District’s Director of Community Relations Leigh  McGivern has confirmed to the Iowa Independent the total amount in the district’s cash reserves:

The district’s overall unaudited fund balance is $23.7 million, of which all but $11.7 million is unrestricted, so that $11.7 million is our actual available fund balance, which is 3.4 percent of our entire budget. We do not want to deplete the entire fund balance for obvious reasons.

Gov. Chet Culver ordered a $565 million budget cut Thursday, more than half coming from education.

After a report Wednesday showing an estimated $415 million budget deficit, Culver ordered $565 million to be trimmed from the state’s general fund immediately.

Funding for K-12 education takes the biggest hit, as programs ranging from early childhood education to school food service will see cuts totaling $265 million.

Republican lawmakers sounded alarms that the cuts to K-12 budgets would mean an increase in property taxes. Culver said he will ask the legislature to pass a bill mandating that the state’s 365 school districts use their cash reserves to balance budgets before raising taxes.

Chris Bern, president of the Iowa State Education Association, a union that represents more than 34,000 education employees, said he supports the idea that school districts should use the estimated $400 million in cash reserves to avoid drastic cuts and layoffs.

“Tough economic times require all of us to reach into our ’savings’ and use cash reserves and other resources available rather than making poor choices that would have an adverse effect in the long-run,” he said. “Iowa’s students should not be short-changed by inadequate course offerings or lose access to world-class educators because districts did not want to dip into their cash reserves, utilize the Iowa School Cash Anticipation Program (ISCAP), or use other resources available to them.”

Jack Hill, president of the Iowa Association of School Boards, said before any action is taken school districts should “step back and evaluate their options.”

“It’s not going to be an easy year, but if we work together, hopefully we can all come up with viable solutions to keep achievement levels, curriculum development and education as a whole moving forward,” he said.

The state’s public universities will see their budgets shrink by $59.8 million. The University of Iowa faces the biggest hit, as it faces a $23.5 million cut. That total doesn’t include cuts to other UI programs, only the general university.

Iowa State University will see its budget cut more than $18 million.

The state’s College Aid Commission will have its budget cut $6.3 million, meaning less help for students in funding their college education.

Even Iowa Public Television will face nearly $1 million in cuts.

David Miles, president of the Iowa Board of Regents, said in a statement that he will ask the board to enact a system-wide freeze on hiring and a moratorium on all new building construction projects.

UI Faculty Senate President David Drake told the Daily Iowan that he was surprised by the magnitude of the cuts. Culver was only obligated to cut 7 percent from the budget in order to balance it.

“That number is significantly higher than any of our past expectations,” Drake said. “We’re talking about millions and millions of dollars.”

University of Iowa President Sally Mason told the Iowa City Press-Citizen earlier this year that if the economy didn’t improve, the university would lay off 130 employees in December and January.

For the full spread sheet of how each state department will be effected by the budget cuts, click here.

HR 3221, also known as the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, would support early childhood education and provide for “green” school building renovations. The most contentious provision of the bill, however, would end government-subsidized loans in the private sector and replace them with direct government funding. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that removing the subsidies will save taxpayers $87 billion — monies that Democrats say can then be used to increase education grants to low- to moderate-income Americans.

According to U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Waterloo), the impact on Iowa will be enormous. His office estimates that the legislation will invest more than $726 million in Iowa over the next 10 years to increase the annual Pell Grant from $5,350 in 2009 to $5,500 in 2010 and then to $6,900 by 2019. The 1st District, which Braley represents, is estimated to receive $82.5 million.

“This bill makes federal grant money more accessible and reliable, and allows young people to graduate with less debt,” Braley said. “This is a huge step in the right direction to make higher education more affordable for Iowa families.”

Despite a highly-lauded and bipartisan amendment being attached to the legislation that removed federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), Republican support did not materialize for the full legislation. U.S. Rep. Tom Latham (D-Ames) and U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Kiron) both voted against the legislation, even while King issued a press release in favor of the ACORN attachment.

According to Latham, the bill represents “an unprecedented government power-grab.”

“College students and their families ought to have choices when looking for ways to fund a college education,” he said. “This bill virtually forces students to rely solely on the federal government for student loan options. It threatens choice of — and access to — higher education funding.”

The bill has also received opposition from banks and other private institutions such as Sallie Mae and Citigroup that currently serve as middle-men in government-subsidized student loans — an industry currently estimated at $92 billion. Although the companies work directly with students to provide school loans, the government guarantees up to 97 percent of the loans that are made under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, which is slated for sunset under the new legislation. The lenders, who will now begin lobbying Senate members for alternative plans, warn that loss of the program will mean loss of jobs in their sector.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-Mount Vernon), who supported the bill, was instrumental in the inclusion of “green school” and workforce development initiatives into the bill. Loebsack believes the provisions will encoruage greater collaboration between industry, college and workers to strengthen overall workforce development.

“The workforce development provisions will help connect community colleges to industry leaders — so that our students are receiving the most up-to-date and highly in demand skill set and our businesses are getting new corps of workers equipped to meet their current needs. By bringing everyone together, these provisions can grow and save entire industries while empowering our workforce to advance into the 21st century,” Loebsack said.

The legislation passed the U.S. House on a predominately party-line vote of 253 to 171. Although Pres. Barack Obama has already signaled his approval, members of the U.S. Senate will still need to pass their own version of the legislation.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Indianola), who now serves as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued a press release shortly after the House vote in praising the legislation. His intention is to present a similar bill this fall.

As Obama delivered his live address today, hundreds of school board members and candidates were trying to win elections across the state.

Most students here will not be deprived of the chance to see the nation’s first black president address their concerns directly. In 80 years, they will be able to tell their grandchildren that they remember the moment, even if they end up disagreeing with all of Obama’s political beliefs. But some students will be denied the opportunity, as school districts have accommodated conservative parents by making the speech optional. In some districts, only students whose teachers are willing to risk backlash by showing the speech on a tape delay will see it.

It’s as if parents think that today is the only day that President Obama’s name will be uttered in public school classrooms — that the identity of the leader of the free world remains a secret to schoolchildren on every other day.

That’s ridiculous. Students read age-appropriate newspaper articles that quote the president all the time in the course of their studies. Many schools likely aired the president’s inaugural address in January without objection.

But, because school board elections are held at this time of year in many states across the country, today’s speech sparked a political firestorm.

It’s no secret that the fringe conservative groups who have spearheaded the recent movement to prevent students from seeing Obama’s speech consider school boards an important battleground. In Iowa, many school districts claim members who oppose teaching students about evolution, a fairly basic tenet of biology. Some districts have refused to enact measures to end bullying of students based on sexual orientation, even after the state legislature required them to do so. One district in Iowa has gone as far as to implement a Bible studies curriculum in public schools.

Fights that you might think the Supreme Court settled decades ago are still being waged in many corners of the Hawkeye State, and the number of parents choosing to homeschool their children continues to increase (pdf). Though a strong public education system is perhaps the most important tool for achieving equality and upward mobility in the United States today, professional educators and school board members who want to keep their students on the same page as students in other districts across the country often find themselves battling uphill.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that at least some of the conservative groups lining up to oppose Obama’s speech are hoping that it will translate into votes for their candidates on the ground. School board elections are usually low-turnout affairs, in which the results reflect the preconceptions of the few citizens who take the time to vote rather than a broad consensus of all members of the community. Even in traditionally liberal parts of the country, a riled conservative base can swing a race from one candidate to another.

In Iowa, school districts have bent over backwards to allow parents to shield their children from the president, so the impact may not be so dramatic. But I wonder, if Obama’s speech was scheduled for next month instead of today, whether the opposition would have been as vitriolic.

Student environmental activists held a rally Monday at Iowa State University hoping to persuade the school to alter its coal ash disposal method. The group plans to deliver petitions to ISU President Gregory Geoffroy this week. (photo by Jason Hancock/Iowa Independent)

ActivUS, a student environmental and social justice organization, held a rally Monday on the Ames campus of ISU to call on the school’s president, Gregory Geoffroy, to end the practice of disposing of coal ash an unlined, unmonitored quarry in Waterloo. The group’s president, Graham Jordison, said the plan is to deliver a petition to Geoffroy’s office this week demanding he meet with students on the issue.

“This is sort of our first step of the campaign to change the school’s policy,” Jordison said. “We find it ironic that Iowa State has this ‘Live Green’ motto and yet they are dumping ash in an unlined quarry.”

Coal ash, also known as fly ash, is the waste produced by burning coal. The ash contains much greater concentrations of elements such as mercury, zinc, lead, arsenic and selenium than the coal itself, and environmentalists fear that dumping it into unlined quarries may result in contamination of groundwater supplies.

A report released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year found the cancer risk to be 1 in 2,000 from exposure to arsenic in drinking water for residents living near unlined landfills containing coal ash and coal refuse, which is 500 times the level usually regarded as safe by current federal regulations.

Because the Waterloo site received a waiver from the state allowing it to accept coal ash without following strict landfill standards, there is no monitoring conducted to ensure toxins are not leaching into groundwater. State regulators say they are waiting for the federal government to issue new rules governing coal ash disposal, despite admitting to The Iowa Independent that contamination could already be taking place.

Iowa State, along with the University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa, said earlier this summer that they planned to investigate any potential public health risks their disposal methods could create. However, after meeting with the owners of the quarry, BMC Aggregates, all three schools announced they were not going to make a change.

It should not surprise anyone that the site owners would say the disposal method is safe, Jordison said, nor should it surprise anyone that the announcement was made over the school’s summer vacation.

“It was probably intentional,” he said. “I do think they had their meeting during the summer because there were no students around to pick up on the information. They are getting their facts from a corporation that owns the quarry. Of course the owner of the facility is going to say there is no problem.”

Tyler Rygg, treasurer of ActivUs, said even if the state never toughens regulations, the university should still stop using an unlined quarry as a dump site.

“I want Iowa State to do more than the bare minimum,” he said. “I know that there are not regulations on this, but I’d like them to be a role model for the rest of Iowa. We need to be doing more than simply what is required of us. They ask students to do this every day, so we’re asking them to do it today.”

In addition to changing the schools disposal methods, Jordison said his organization would also call on President Geoffroy to speak out against the practice and encourage other schools to do the same. Geoffroy should also pressure state regulators to toughen the law rather than wait for the federal government to do so.

“We want to pressure [the school] to live up to its rhetoric,” he said. “We’re not afraid to step it up, get our activists together and do some non-violent actions. Whatever it takes to get the school to wake up and realize students want this to change.”

In July, the chair of the state’s Environmental Protection Commission and two key legislators called for hearings on Iowa’s rules governing coal ash. However, state Sen. Dennis Black, D-Grinnell, said the earliest he expects this to happen would be the summer of 2010.

A spokeswoman for Iowa State University said President Geoffroy has not yet been contacted by any student groups in regards to the coal ash issue.