We had one day of debate this week, which included funding State Supplemental Aid for schools. Now that SSA is passed, work can begin on the budget.

I chair the Health and Human Services Budget, which is a $2.4 billion budget. Many safety-net needs and health coverage for Iowans are included. This year, Gov. Reynolds increased her funding for HHS budget by $232.7 million. My job is to work with my Senate counterpart to make sure Iowans’ priorities are funded.

Education

We passed the State Supplemental Aid for schools, providing an additional $114 million in funding for K-12 education. This money will support teacher salary increases, transportation costs, and operational sharing of staff across school districts. This final agreement includes:

l A 2 percent increase in SSA for Fiscal Year 2026 plus an additional $5 per student. This results in more than $105 million more in school aid.

l This year also brings phase two of the teacher salary increase. This will include almost $35 million additional dollars for public schools.

l The State Cost Per Pupil amount increases to $7,988 per student which includes an additional $5 for per pupil equity, which was a key component fought for by House Republicans. This is an increase of $162 per pupil.

l The operational sharing cap increases from 21 to 25, an additional $942,087 for public schools.

l An additional 3 percent increase in transportation equity, in addition to the 2 percent increase. This equates to $1,554,938 more for public schools.

Altogether, these increases equate to a 2.8 percent increase in state funding to public schools. House Republicans secured more than $4.7 million in additional investments for public schools through our negotiations.

These increases represent many of the specific funding issues we hear from our school districts. While each line item may not affect each individual school district equally, one line item may have a big impact on addressing the issue a specific district is facing.

The House is working to respond to the specific concerns we’re hearing from our schools in a responsible manner.

Democrats’ false claims on school funding

I really don’t like to bash the minority party, and try to to remember everyone in the chamber was duly elected. I believe everyone in the House wants to do their best to help all Iowans. but this week’s claim was completely false, and I can’t ignore it.

Democrats repeated the misleading claim that we are increasing Educational Savings Account (ESA) funding by 44 percent while increasing public school funding by 2 percent. They say this to make it sound as if we are spending more on private schools than on public schools.

But that is far from the truth.

The minority party is comparing apples to oranges. An ESA student gets the same amount as every public school student. But when an ESA student leaves a public school $1,200 stays with that public school even if an ESA student never attended the public school. Cost per pupil of ESAs increases each year at the same rate as the number we set for SSA. This year is the final year of expansion in the ESA program that allows all families to qualify. This is why the increase looks greater this year.

Even with this expansion, the cost of the ESA program does not even come remotely close to the amount we spend each year on public schools.

In the FY 2025 budget, state aid to public schools accounts for 43.62 percent of the entire state budget. That’s the biggest piece of the pie by far. ESAs, meanwhile, account for 2.01 percent of the total state budget.

State Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, represents Fort Dodge and eastern Webster County.