Iowa funds K-12 education through a funding formula referred to as allowable growth.  Think of allowable growth as a percentage of change of the base amount of state aid offered for the education of each student in the state.  In reality, the vote for or against allowable growth is many times more complicated and it is debatable whether or not those who vote on the bills understand the full implications.

Though there are many variables, think of the state as funding roughly $5800 per student who attends our public k-12 schools.  House Republicans have announced, through House File 185, their intentions of funding this amount at 0% allowable growth which means this number will not change.  Senate Democrats in Senate File 166 and Senate File 167 have approved, through the committee process, that this number should be increased by 2%.

A short look at history shows how legislative promises in February failed to come to fruition after school districts certified their budgets in April.  In FY 2009 the legislature approved 4% allowable growth then after the realization of overspending, the Governor cut state expenditures across the board by 1.5% resulting in a$32 million cut to schools.  In FY 2010 the legislature again approved a 4% allowable growth promising schools increases then realized due to over spending they cut the expenditure in May by $31 million and in October of the same year Governor Culver cut state expenditures to schools by another $238 million.  In FY 2011 schools were promised 2% allowable growth in February then cut in May by $156 million.

No matter where you stand on the issue, there is a realistic problem between the funds which are promised and the follow through of the legislature.  In the past four years our schools have had $459.7 million taken away from them resulting in $445.6 million of that spending authority falling on your property taxes.

Each year allowable growth is a political football which offers two weeks of media sound-bites.  Somewhere in the noise you will hear our local school leaders pushing common sense requests.  If the legislature promises something then follow through.  If the legislature mandates something, pay for it.  If the legislature appropriates money in February, make sure it really has the money in May.

While in the subcommittee on the 2% allowable growth bills I asked where the additional $64 million appropriation and backfill $266 million would be coming from.  One of the floor managers of the bill said, "Maybe cash reserve," and the other gave the most honest answer, "I don't know."  While you ponder this issue also take into consideration Iowa's top three expenditures of Medicaid, school aid and salaries will eclipse total revenues to the state in FY 2013.

Shawn Hamerlinck
State Senate District 42

February 10, 2011

Washington, DC - Today, Congressman Bruce Braley (IA-01) signed on to a bill that would help small businesses across the country by repealing a burdensome provision of the health care law, which was added by the Senate. The Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act will repeal the unpopular "1099" provision.

As a result of the so-called "1099" provision in the health care law, starting in 2012 small businesses will be required to submit 1099 forms for vendors that provide basic day-to-day operations, including office supplies, phones, shipping and other minor expenses. The Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act, sponsored by Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA), will repeal this provision to make sure small businesses can focus on creating jobs.

"Small business owners are making touch choices every day, fighting to keep their businesses afloat. This is no time to hit them with new burdensome regulations," said Rep. Braley. "This provision increases the cost of doing business and puts an unfair burden on business owners when they can least afford it. I know that small businesses are the engine of our economy - they are the job creators in so many communities in Iowa and around the country. And I want to make sure they can stay focused on creating jobs."

Last year, Rep. Braley supported a similar provision to repeal the "1099" requirement as part of the Small Business Tax Relief Act. The "1099" provision was not included in the House version of the health care bill that Rep. Braley supported last Congress, but was later added into the Senate version of the bill which was then passed and signed into law.

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Grassley said that recent comments by the SEC Director of Enforcement at a securities industry conference, "sound the alarm for anyone concerned about the SEC being overly cozy with those it should be investigating, to the point of not only committing to its own cooperation, but also providing information about the intentions of the Justice Department.

Grassley said the public deserves to know "what kind of arrangement there is between the SEC and the Justice Department on behalf of the securities industry."

In November, the SEC Director of Enforcement, Robert Khuzami, said "there is going to be earlier and more frequent collaboration between us and Justice" about whether there's criminal interest, "so defense counsel can have as much information as possible."

However, a new SEC enforcement manual says that "it is the general policy of the Commission not to comment on investigations conducted by law enforcement authorities responsible with enforcing criminal law."  The manual even instructs SEC staff to decline to identify which criminal authorities should be contacted to learn about a possible parallel criminal investigation.

"All the promises of financial regulatory reform ring hollow if the administration is allowing the top enforcement official at the SEC to relay to potential targets of an investigation exactly what the Justice Department has in store for them," Grassley said.

In letters to SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro and Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., Grassley asked for copies of written guidance on collaboration and communication between the SEC and the Justice Department, a detailed description of the nature and extent of communications between the agencies in the Goldman Sachs and Pequot matters, and written responses to additional questions.

In 2007, Grassley and Senator Arlen Specter spelled out in a comprehensive report the SEC Inspector General's failure to investigate credible allegations by former SEC attorney Gary Aguirre that his supervisor pulled punches in the investigation because of one witness' political clout.  The former SEC Inspector General left his position the same day the Grassley-Specter report was released.  Last year, the SEC finally obtained a $28 million dollar settlement from Pequot and paid Aguirre years of back pay in a settlement related to his termination.

The SEC drafted its enforcement manual response to the recommendations in the August 2007 Grassley-Specter report.

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Thursdays at the Figge returns to the Figge on Thursday, February 17, 2011 with the special lecture "The World's Most Perfect Servant: The Pullman Porter Company and the African-American Experience," presented by Peter A. Hansen in conjunction with the current exhibition "Tracks: The Railroad in Photographs from the George Eastman House Collection" and Black History Month.  Mr. Hansen is the editor of the scholarly journal Railroad History and will travel from his home in Kansas City to Davenport by train for this lecture.  This lecture will be held at 7:00 PM in the Figge Auditorium.

The porters of the Pullman Company served as bellmen, concierges, housekeepers and more in the railroads' sleeping cars, yet their role in the American consciousness is even harder to define.  Were porters "the world's most perfect servants," as Pullman's advertising boasted, or a symbol of racial oppression? Icons of gracious travel or underpaid victims? More than 40 years after the Pullman Company went out of business attitudes about its frontline employees reflect our continued ambivalence.  This lecture will offer insights on the Pullman porters, their work, and their role in the modern civil rights movement.

Thursdays at the Figge on February 24th will feature a performance of Railroad Songs and Stories by Roald Tweet, professor emeritus of English at Augustana College and host of WVIK's Rock Island Lines, and musician Chris Dunn.

Thursdays at the Figge in March will feature "Artists and Writers," a series of talks by English professors from area colleges and universities on the unique relationship between literature and art.

Thursdays at the Figge programming in February also include a guided gallery tour at 6 PM and live music by Buddy Olson. The café and bar open at 5 PM for dinner and drinks and the museum is open until 9 PM. All programs are included with admission to the museum and all college students and faculty receive free admission after 5 PM every Thursday night.

Tracks and its educational programming are funded in part by the Riverboat Development Authority, Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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