Governor Kim Reynolds says after providing state funded accounts to cover private school expenses, raising the pay of public-school teachers will be on her 2024 legislative agenda. Reynolds says she’ll also focus on improving reading scores among public school students in the early grades.
The average salary for a public-school teacher in Iowa is about 10% below the national average. Reynolds says lawmakers are giving public schools authority to divert some already approved state funding to pay teachers more, but as she campaigned around the state for her plan to state help to parents who send their kids to private school, it was clear that pay for public school teachers is an issue.
At the end of the month, low income parents who enroll a child in a private school this fall will be able to apply for $7,600 in state money to cover tuition and other private school expenses. Some private schools have announced fall tuition increases, as high as 10% in some Catholic schools in the Diocese of Des Moines. Reynolds says that shouldn’t dilute the impact of the program.
Earlier this year, Reynolds approved a three percent increase in general state aid for public schools. House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says Democrats offered countless ideas during the 2023 legislative session to raise teacher pay and make sure every kid in Iowa gets a good education, but Reynolds and her Republican allies in the legislature turned down every one of them.
