Wahls and Prichard: Make Iowa public schools great again

... The truth is the Iowa Republican Party is being led by radicals who do not believe public education is important — or worse, who believe public schools are being used to brainwash our children. It sounds kooky when you say it out loud, but these beliefs are why the 2020 Iowa Republican Party platform explicitly endorsed private school vouchers and called for the abolishment of the federal Department of Education. If they sound radical or out of touch to you, you are not alone. Today’s GOP is not your grandparents’ Republican Party.

Today’s Republican Party of Iowa is undermining public education at every opportunity. Here’s how they are doing it:

• Private school vouchers: Consistent with their party platform, urged by Gov. Reynolds, Iowa Republicans in the Legislature recently voted to remove tens of millions of dollars from our kids’ public schools to fund private school vouchers. This system could drain millions of dollars in its first year, and hundreds of millions when they expand the program, which they’ve already promised they will do.

• Inadequate school funding: Under Republican leadership, public school funding in Iowa has failed to keep up with a rising cost of living four of the past five years. On top of that, their 2022 plan would provide 137 Iowa school districts less state funding than they did in 2021, prompting higher local property taxes. This is unacceptable.

• Disrespecting educators: Republican politicians can’t say with a straight face that they respect educators when they voted in 2017 to strip educators of their ability to have a say in their own workplace.

• Defunding preschool: Legislation approved by Iowa Republicans will cut $7.5 million from preschool funding with no way to make up that funding locally. A global pandemic is no time to take early childhood education choices away from parents and kids.