Iowa Education Crisis

Hint: It's not because of the teachers

by Doug Smith

September 12, 2026

According to a June 18, 2026 report in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier about Iowa’s education ranking, The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently released its 2026 Kids Count Data Book, and Iowa is going down… again.  In 2019, Iowa ranked 11^th among all states.  In 2023, we were down to 17^th.  And now in 2026, Iowa has sunk below the halfway mark… 27^th out of the 50 states.  For all the grim details, read the Courier article.

https://wcfcourier.com/article_eb68bf5d-dccb-5bd5-8e49-26fc79eb6726.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

“We have really good teachers and really hardworking people in our schools, (but) it's the fact there's not enough funding to provide the same level of services," Finn said. "Schools have been caught in the political crossfire in Iowa and that has had an effect on the ability of schools to perform. There's more anxiety at school and more teachers have left because they don't like how they have been treated by the state."

Who has been deciding the school funding rate for over a decade in Iowa?  Who is diverting hundreds of millions in tax money destined for public schools to private schools?  Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and the majority Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate—over $312 million last year, and $350 million in this current year!  With their locked-in control of the state budget, they have been systematically dismantling our once-proud public education system here in Iowa, and they’re not done yet.  If we keep them in power, how much lower will they take us?  All the way down to the bottom? 

Is that what we want for our children and grandchildren?  We need to stop sending Republicans to represent us in Des Moines!  They’re doing a horrible job of it.  Vote Democrats into the leadership this November and let’s watch them turn this around.

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