(Radio Iowa) – Republican leaders in the state legislature say they’re open to moving a key deadline for local school officials who are developing budgets for the next school year.

Those budget plans must be done by April 30, but the House and Senate have not agreed yet on how much state funding schools will get or whether to raise the mandatory minimum salary for teachers. The legislature’s unresolved debate over Area Education Agencies is also a factor.

“I understand their frustrations,” House Speaker Pat Grassley said earlier today during a news conference at the House press bench. “….We have frustrations as well that we haven’t been able to move the S.S.A., for example, that we haven’t been able to move that forward.”

S.S.A. is legislative lingo for the general level of state funding for schools that’s calculated on a per pupil basis. Four weeks ago, the House voted for a 3% boost in per pupil funding for students in public and private schools, but the Senate has not advanced its own bill. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver has indicated some initial decisions may be made next week.

“There’s a lot of money in this budget for schools. It’s in different plaes. I’ts kind of complicated because they’re in different bills and so it’s not as streamlined as I’d hoped,” Whitver said during a news conference in his state capitol office, ” but hopefully we get that resolution soon.”

Senate Republicans may debate their combined plan to restructure Area Education Agencies and raise the minimum salary for first year teachers to around 46-thousand dollars a year. A week ago the House passed a bipartisan plan that addressed teacher pay. It would set a $50,000 minimum salary, give public schools money to raise pay for veteran teachers with salaries below $50,000 and raise hourly wages for other school staff to 15 dollars an hour.

Democrats say Republicans are again failing to follow the state law that requires the legislature to make its decision on general per pupil spending on schools over a month ago.

Tomorrow, March 15, if the deadline for schools to set property tax levies for the next school year. School districts have been holding public hearings about budget plans.

(Radio Iowa) – A new report places Iowa in the middle of the pack in terms of the state’s preparedness for emergencies — from weather disasters to disease outbreaks to terrorist attacks.

Dr. Nadine Gracia, president and CEO of Trust for America’s Health, says the annual “Ready or Not” report placed 21 states and Washington, D.C. in the high-performance tier for emergency readiness, Iowa and 12 other states in the middle-performance tier, and 16 states in the bottom tier.

“Some areas of strong performance in Iowa include that the state has the capacity to expand its healthcare capacity, as well as public health laboratory capacity in times of emergency,” Gracia says. “The state also has accreditation for public health, and the state increased its public health funding.”

Iowa was also in the middle tier in last year’s report, as she says the state could do more to be better prepared for future challenges.

“Where there are opportunities for improvement are also seeking and gaining accreditation in emergency management as well as improvements with regards to flu vaccination,” Gracia says. “Flu vaccination is about 50% for the state, and our national goal and target is 70%.”

The nation’s emergency preparedness has improved in some areas, Gracia says, while public health officials and policymakers need to do more to strengthen health emergency preparedness — and Iowa could do better, too.

“Another area is in patient safety, and the patient safety and performance of hospital ratings,” Gracia says. “Only about 9% had an ‘A’ grade in terms of patient safety, so those are some areas and indicators for the state for opportunities for improvement.” Only about a quarter of all hospitals nationwide have that “A” rating.

Gracia says a majority of states have made preparations to expand healthcare and public health laboratory capacity during an emergency, but she says the report also found too few people are vaccinated against seasonal flu and too few workers have access to paid time off.

See the full report HERE.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill to reduce the taxes Iowa businesses pay INTO the state fund that pays OUT unemployment benefits is advancing in the House, but Republican Representative Dave Deyoe of Nevada says they’re .waiting on a detailed analysis of the bill’s impact. “If the math doesn’t work, we’re not going to do it as is,” Deyoe says. Governor Kim Reynolds proposed this tax cut in January. Deyoe says lawmakers want a Legislative Service Agency analysis so they can be assured that when unemployment rises during a recession, business taxes won’t have to be raised to keep the Unemployment Trust Fund solvent.

Nick Lanning is a lobbyist for the trade union that represents electrical workers. He says with recent John Deere layoffs and the closure of the Tyson plant in Perry, now is not the time to make dramatic changes in the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund. “Let’s consider all the factors we have here before we do something that could have long term effects,'” Lanning says. Iowa Association of Business and Industry lobbyist J-D Davis says the association backs the bill AND the drive to get more information about its impact.

“We have some of the very same concerns that have expressed by labor about the solvency of the fund. We want to make sure that an economic downturn can be survived and the fund is there for the purpose it’s there,” Davis says. “…I think moving the bill is going to get you the information you need to know about next steps.”

The bill cleared a House subcommittee this (Thursday) morning and will be considered by the House Ways and Means Committee next week.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County (IA) Engineer’s Office reports construction will resume March 20th, on Highland Road (G-30), over Indian Creek. The bridge will be closed and a signed detour via Cass County Road M-56, U-S Highway 6, and County Road M-47 back to G-30, will be provided.

Engineering Technician Jason Mitchell says the project should be complete in approximately four to five (4-5) weeks.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office say a man from Omaha was arrested on drug and other charges, Wednesday night. 19-year-old Quantel Anthony-Lamar Osler, was taken into custody in the area of 180th St./Highway 34. He was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, Reckless Driving, and Eluding. Osler was being held in the Mills County Jail on a $6,300 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Auditor’s Office reports Steve Green, incumbent candidate for the Board of Supervisors in District 1, on Wednesday, filed his nomination papers for re-election, in advance of the June 4th Republican Primary.

Green is the latest candidate to file. As previously reported, other candidates who have filed to run for County offices in Cass County, include:

• District 5 incumbent Supervisor Bernard Pettinger.
• Kathy Somers, incumbent for Cass County Auditor, who was elected to the position 2022 to fill a vacancy,
• and John Westering for Cass County Sheriff.

As we’ve mentioned, current Cass County Sheriff Darby McLaren is not running for re-election.

Candidates for County Office have until 5-p.m. March 22, 2024, to file their nomination papers.

(Radio Iowa)  – The state’s largest food bank plans to host a series of regional round table meetings, starting later this month, to address Iowa’s hunger problem. Annette Hacker is spokeswoman for the Food Bank of Iowa, which serves 55 Iowa counties. “We begin the day with a what we call regional round tables, an opportunity to gather community members to talk about food insecurity in our state and in your community and how Food Bank of Iowa and our community partners are working together to make sure Iowa’s children, families, seniors and veterans have the nutrition they need to thrive.” Hacker says they’ve held the regional round-table meetings for the past five or so years and they’ve been well received.

“We begin the day with the regional round table and then in the afternoon, we visit some of our partners around the state,” Hacker says, “and we have six regional round table opportunities this spring and summer.”

The round tables are planned for Newton on March 26th, Webster City on March 27th, Panora on March 28th, Albia on April 24th, Fairfield on April 25th and Algona on May 7th. All meetings begin at 10 a.m.

Following the round table meetings, Food Bank of Iowa representatives will tour community food banks to learn first-hand about their local food insecurity issues. Learn more at: foodbankiowa.org/roundtable24