EDUCATION
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Princeton study confirms Iowa voucher program led to tuition increases
Researchers from Princeton University proved something most Iowans were already aware of: Gov. Kim Reynolds’ taxpayer-funded private school tuition voucher program led to tuition hikes. First reported by Bleeding Heartland, Princeton Sociology Professor Jennifer Jennings and doctoral student Jason Fontana published “The Effect of Taxpayer-Funded Education Savings Accounts on Private School Tuition: Evidence from Iowa”…
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2 years after historic union vote, Grinnell students sign 1st-in-nation contract
By Zach Spindler-Krage, News Editor, The Scarlet and Black Members of the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) officially ratified, in a 162-1 vote, the first contract in US history to cover all undergraduate student workers. On Friday, Grinnell College signed the contract, which takes effect immediately. The historic contract raises the base wage for…
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Iowa City closing an elementary school, blames underfunding from state
Hills Elementary School will close next school year after nearly 60 years of educating students, and members of the Iowa City School Board cite inadequate state funding as one of the reasons why. “It is the result of chronic and persistent underfunding by the state that has been going on for the past decade,” school…
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Opinion: I was an Iowa legislator. Where’s the substance to today’s bills?
In today’s hyper-partisan, emotion-fueled political environment, where policy proposals are seemingly presented and defended with facile slogans and tribal appeals, how can any citizen differentiate between the truly good and beneficial ones and those that either serve only a few or harm or denigrate others? I would like to advance a modest proposal based upon…
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Linn-Mar cutting 19 teachers, 31 staff, cites ‘underfunding’ from state
One of the largest school districts in Iowa announced it was cutting 50 staff positions, including 19 full-time teachers, beginning next school year. The Linn-Mar Community School District announced Thursday it would be forced to cut $2.5 million from its budget for the 2024-25 school year. This comes on the heels of a $3 million…
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Opinion: Rethinking public high schools would help us fill important STEM jobs locally
We need a robust, highly skilled workforce in STEM to support the influx of major infrastructure projects cropping up across the country. The way to fix this is by starting at the high school level.
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House GOP pushes through bill aimed at undermining AEA services
Rep. Chuck Isenhart (D-Dubuque) can already see the writing on the wall for Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs), after Thursday’s Iowa House vote to move forward in implementing large-scale changes to the agencies. During the House debate on its amended AEA bill, Isenhart laid out exactly how he thinks Republicans will use this bill to…
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Iowa House passes bill to arm teachers, staff in school
Rep. Molly Buck (D-Ankeny), who is also a teacher, summed up her thoughts on Iowa House Republicans’ bill to arm school staff as a way to deter school shootings. “When I think about how my classroom is arranged, if I am carrying a gun and there’s a threat at the door, the thing that stands…
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‘I’m not going to teach in Iowa’: UNI students explain why they’re not sticking around
She grew up in Ames and went to the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) in Cedar Falls to become a teacher. But Lydia plans to leave Iowa as soon as she graduates. “Here at UNI, there’s so much emphasis in our classes on social-emotional learning and inclusion and talking about issues of diversity,” she said.…
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‘Doomed to failure:’ Iowans speak out on proposed AEA changes
Stacey Warren was one of the first people on the scene of the Perry High School shooting on Jan. 4, but she’s not a first responder: She’s a social worker for the Heartland Iowa Area Education Association (AEA). “I went to Perry and we were there before 10 a.m. and we have continued to serve…
