In 2023, the Iowa legislature passed a massive government reorganization bill with the goal of making government more efficient, aligning similar departments and eliminating redundancies. While it was estimated to save a decent amount of money over the next several years, the governor announced in her Condition of the State speech this year that it had already saved Iowa taxpayers $217 million over 18 months.

A report released this week by Common Sense Institute says that government reorganization policy helped us accelerate the income tax cuts Republicans had passed and helped Iowa continue down a path of growth and success.

I’m honored to serve as the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. This committee, along with the House Appropriations Committee, oversees the $9 billion of revenue that comes to the state through state income taxes and state sales taxes. The state of Iowa ranks high in fiscal management and is in a sound fiscal position. The Cato Institute has ranked Iowa the most fiscally responsible state in the country for three years running. A high ranking validates our efforts of conservative budgeting principles and practices.

Our projected revenues for this fiscal year (ending June 30) are $9.15 billion. We will spend $8.95 billion on all commitments we legislate in our current session. This is estimated to give us a surplus of $2.1 billion at fiscal year end.

Nearly 56 percent of our yearly budget funds education (K-higher education). Approximately 25 percent is directed to our state’s health and human services budget. That leaves 19 percent to fund agriculture, economic development, corrections and public safety. The most challenging task before us is to balance our spending, educate our children, keep our citizens safe and help Iowa grow.

I’m proud of the sound fiscal position our state is in. When I started in the legislature 10 years ago, we were using the term deappropriate. We were breaking our promises of funding and not being able to fulfill our budget obligations. Today, Iowa is fiscally sound and using taxpayer funds wisely.

I had the opportunity to chair a subcommittee this week on Senate File 61. If passed, this bill would require the Iowa Department of Education to provide more educational and technical assistance to school districts on starting student organizations related to robotics and robotics team competitions.

This bill also allows athletic organizations which receive membership fees or dues from school districts and non-public schools to sponsor and administer robotics interscholastic competitions.

Several groups of Iowa high school students and instructors are pushing for this bill to expand K-12 robotics teams’ access to reliable funding and recognition. High school robotics participants who attended the meeting shared the challenge to find funding , often depending on grants, bake sales, sponsors and donations. This legislation would help unlock federal funds by recognizing robotics as a CTSO (Career and School Technical Student Organization).

I voted in favor of this legislation. If allowing access to federal funds is helpful to these programs, then I’m all for it. Robotics teaches students welding, manufacturing, software development and more. I’m Happy to support the growth of robotics teams and also retain statewide participation.

Gov. Reynolds introduced a bill aimed at enhancing math proficiency and civics education for students. This plan specifically targets students on an individual basis who are struggling to meet proficiency standards and provides teachers with the necessary resources to achieve the new standard for educational success. The bill will also require high school students to score 60 percent or higher on a U.S. civics test to graduate.

State Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, represents Calhoun, Pocahontas, Sac and Webster counties.