DES MOINES, Iowa – Gov. Kim Reynolds signed SF 192, the supplemental state aid bill, for Iowa’s K-12 public schools following the bill’s passage in the Iowa House by a 59 to 40 vote along partisan lines on Tuesday. The Iowa Senate passed the bill last week 34 to 15, split along partisan lines.
The bill represents $107 million of new funding for K-12 public schools for the 2023-2024 school year.
“This results in a $1.19 billion increase in K-12 education funding since 2012,” Reynolds said. “This investment represents our commitment to an excellent education system for all Iowans.”
“This amount contributes to a total of more than $8.4 billion in funding from all sources for Iowa schools and an average of over $17,000 per student. SF 192 is sustainable, reliable, and timely, just as K-12 funding has been for the last six years,” Iowa Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Grimes, said following the Senate vote.
“Senate Republicans kept our promise to K-12 schools once again. Despite Senate Democrats’ complaints, Iowans remember that the only time K-12 funding has been cut in the last 25 years was when Democrats had total control of state government,” he added.
Mike Beranek, the president of the Iowa State Education Association, called Republican claims of record funding for K-12 schools “smoke and mirrors.”
“Public school funding has not kept up with the rising cost of inflation for the 12 of the last 13 years. So bringing an extra 50 cents to the grocery store to purchase a carton of eggs will never make up for their soaring cost but you can still claim you are bringing more money than you have ever brought before,” he said.
“Inflation coupled with fixed costs mean that no matter the ebb and flow of a student population, our schools need more funding to provide a robust and healthy student environment,” Beranek added.
According to the Legislative Services Agency, the bill establishes a three percent growth rate to the state’s cost per pupil for fiscal year 2024, an additional $222 per pupil for the state’s supplemental aid to K-12 schools, increasing the state cost per pupil to $7,635.
The bill also establishes a three percent growth rate to be applied to each of the state’s categorical cost-per-pupil amounts for FY 2024.
For school districts, the category for teachers’ salaries increases to $654.68 per pupil. Professional development rises to $74.15. Early intervention funding increases to $80.76 per pupil. Teacher leadership & compensation funding rises to $368.53 per pupil.
For Area Education Agencies, the category for teacher salaries increases to $34.26 per pupil, and the category for professional development rises to $4.00 per pupil.
SF 192 also increases the property tax replacement payment to $201 per student, an increase from $175 in FY 2023. The bill also freezes the fixed additional levy portion to $685 per student.
The total state aid from the state’s general fund is estimated to be almost $3.8 billion.
Read the bill in its enrolled form below:
SF192
