FROM THE DESK OF REPRESENTATIVE DE BOEF March 1, 2012
Three Big Issues Funnel week has passed here in the House. February 24th was the last day a bill could be passed out of the respective committee and eligible for floor debate. The next two weeks in the House will be spent mostly debating the bills that are eligible for the floor. Those that will be passed will be sent on over to the Senate for their review. As the Legislature passes the half-way point of the 2012 Session, we are deeply divided on three big issues. The House and the Senate are divided over property tax reductions, mental health reforms, and an education overhaul. If anything is to be accomplished in these respective areas, significant compromise between the two bodies must occur. These proposed changes are significant and that is what makes them so difficult. Democrats and Republicans agree that parts of our state mental health care system have been broken for years. Long waiting lists in some counties and inconsistent services are some of the chief complaints. Both sides would like to make our mental health system better by improving access, having a core set of services available to all consumers regardless of where they live, and the developing crisis teams and a sub-level of care to address the lack of available acute care level beds. The Senate and the House also both agree that more must be done to develop a work force adequate enough to provide these services. The big question remains as to how we will pay for these services in the future. Republicans would like to see the State shoulder the burden that is now carried by local property tax payers, who currently pay from $125 to $131 million every year into the system. We believe state funding would provide local property tax relief and help address the system’s inequities. The Democrats are concerned that the State would not be able to hold up it’s end of the bargain in future years. They are hesitant on letting go of the county mental health levy and feel that the consumer could be put at risk. Democrats feel more comfortable if more money is left in the system. There is much angst among smaller rural counties concerning the mental health redesign plan. They fear they will lose adequate funding, with larger counties winning out. Both parties came to the Legislature this year wanting to do something about reforming property tax. Iowa’s current commercial property tax rate is the second highest in the nation, where residential owners and farmers pay a property tax that is based on 50 percent of its market value. Commercial and industrial property owners pay tax on 100 percent of value. The big question is how do you provide commercial property tax relief without shifting the burden to residential and ag land owners? Republicans want to reduce the taxable value of commercial and industrial property by 40 percent over an eight year period. Local governments would have to limit their growth to no more than two percent a year, rather than the four percent they are presently limited to. In the end, local governments would be asked to give up an estimated $602 million in annual revenues when fully implemented. While this is a reduction of growth, it is not a cut. It allows 2% increase, plus new construction. Residential and ag land owners would receive additional relief with the state funding 100 percent of the School Foundation Formula, phased in over eight years. Local property tax payers would receive a total of $470 million annually at the end of eight years, according to the State Fiscal Bureau. Democrats do not agree. They feel the Republican proposal is too expensive and will put local governments at risk and not allow the state to address future needs. They agree to some commercial
property tax relief, but not to the extent we are proposing. They feel a small business should receive the major impact of their proposal, while larger businesses would be capped at a maximum amount and receive lesser relief. An increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit is also a caveat to accepting the Democratic proposal. A recent Iowa poll by the Des Moines Register showed widespread support for the House Republican Property Tax Plan. One of the questions, and the response to it by the public was revealing. 60 percent of Iowans said they favored cutting commercial property taxes, even if that meant lower revenues for local governments. Cleary, the public understands that governments at all levels need to spend less and free up the private sector for investment, growth and job creation. The Register Poll showed support for this concept across political lines: 70% of Republicans, 60% percent of Independents, and 47% of Democrats approved. On Education reform, House Republicans in the Education Committee approved their plan this past week. There were some changes made from the Governor’s plan, but one part of the plan is still included, which I feel is the most important; the remedial reading piece has remained intact. However, the retention piece has been put off until 2016. The reasoning behind this delay is they want to make sure that school districts have time to put the plan into place. Why do I think this remedial reading plan is so important? The remedial reading plan was adopted from the successful implementation of a plan in Florida in 2002. This is not the same retention policy that is derided in studies on failed retention policies across the country. This one is focused and is producing results that are hard to ignore. Iowa’s fourth grade reading scores have been essentially flat for 20 years, even declining a few points. By comparison, Florida’s scores have shown dramatic improvement, even surpassing Iowa when they had previously been 20 points down in the 1990’s. Research from the Annie E Casey Foundation, a private charitable organization dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children, found that students who don’t read well in third grade are more likely to drop out or fail to finish high school. The study followed nearly 4,000 students over their education career and found that of those who dropped out or failed to finish high school, 88 percent were not proficient readers in the third grade. Third grade is the focus because it is at that point in a student’s career when they switch from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” If a student cannot read proficiently by that point, the school work going forward is likely going to be too difficult and frustrating for those kids, causing them to fall behind, become bored and disruptive, and eventually drop out. The policy that Florida implemented and that the education reform bill is proposing is not a retention policy. Rather, it is a literacy plan designed to get kids reading by the end of third grade by providing appropriate teaching and support starting from the first day a child enters a classroom. Retention is used as a last resort measure if a child, despite those years of reading focus, doesn’t achieve results that will allow them to be successful in more intense classes that will come later in their education career. Little will get the attention of students, parents, & school officials like the reality of retention. Two facts brought up in the presentation point out that fourth grade text is longer and more difficult to read than third grade text and that 75 percent of students who cannot read independently by the end of third grade will continue to struggle as a reader throughout their lives. Democrats in the Senate are taking another tact. They have basically ignored the Governor’s education plan and wrote one of their own. However, they do address a plan for remedial reading but have yet to recognize the retention aspect of the Governor’s proposal. I really hope that the reading retention plan will survive because I think of all the ways that we have addressed education since I have been here, this proposal will finally get the results of higher test scores, lower drop-out rates, and excellence in learning among our state’s students. Remember, if you can’t read - you can’t learn. Visitors at the capitol this week: Larry & Carol Sheets, Larry is Republican candidate for District 80. Joe Armstrong & family with the Home School group, from Poweshiek County. Randee Slings of Iowa County, with Iowa Title Company.
