Iowa:
One Step at a Time

by Bess Keller

Branstad knew where he wanted to head as early as September 1997 with the release of a blue-ribbon panel's wide-ranging recommendations for school change.

The panel had been convened by the Republican governor, who appointed as its chairman a longtime political ally, Des Moines businessman Marvin Pomerantz.

Iowa lawmakers move cautiously toward state involvement in accountability.

The commission also suggested statewide measures of school success and students' academic achievement--a significant change for the only state that has so far shunned any type of uniform academic standards.

Under the plan put forward by the panel and subsequently adopted by the legislature, districts will continue to set their own standards, but they will be required to report performance on certain "indicators" determined by the state.

Among the indicators specified in the law are test results in grades 4, 8, and 11 and information on postgraduation placement of students.

With the changes, Iowa parents, lawmakers, education officials, and others will for the first time be able to compare school districts using the same yardstick.

When the 1998 session convened, the gover-nor asked lawmakers in the Republican-controlled legislature for a package of reforms that included the accountability measures, higher teacher pay, incentives for districts to lengthen the school year, and $5.2 million to improve programs for the youngest children.

An unprecedented coalition of education groups lobbied for spending up to $30 million on that proposal, arguing that work with the youngest children and their parents was ultimately the most effective way to raise achievement.

Like the politicians, the educators pointed to declining test scores as evidence that something ought to be done. In 1996 and 1997, Iowa failed to maintain its first-place standing on the ACT college-entrance exam, and elementary school scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills have also been sliding downward for several years.

That's potent information in Iowa, where residents--who last year spent $3 billion in federal, state, and local funds on the state's 504,000 public school students--have come to expect top national rankings on tests.

Lawmakers, though, stuck to Branstad's $5.2 million proposal for the youngest children, agreed to raise beginning teacher pay to at least $23,000 a year, and approved a $10,000 pay increase for teachers who gain certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

In addition, the accountability measures sailed through the legislature, giving Iowa at least the beginnings of a standards and accountability system.

But legislators were not par-ticularly interested in changes to teacher preparation or licensure, nor were they interested in a merit-pay plan.

To get broad support for their proposed package, legislative leaders added new spending programs for the 1999-2000 school year: $2.4 million for rural schools that are losing enrollment and $4 million for suburban ones that are growing. They also earmarked $9 million in block grants for programs to improve the primary grades.

But on May 9, after weeks of pushing for a bolder spending plan, Branstad declared that the $24 million final package came up woefully short, and he vetoed more than two-thirds of the spending.

Among the funds cut were those earmarked for the primary grades; for schools in districts where voters have approved extra school property-tax measures known as instructional-support levies; and for schools in areas of rapidly growing or declining enrollment. Branstad also nixed a $1 million merit-pay proposal for teachers that he said was inadequate and a pilot plan for a version of charter schools.

The governor was particularly unhappy with the weak merit-pay plan coupled with the lack of provisions for tougher preparation and licensing of teachers. Branstad had called for a requirement that teachers successfully complete an internship before licensing.

"We are one of only a few states not to assure the basic demonstration of competency," Branstad said in a June interview. "We should complete the educational reform that didn't get done."

No reform was more important than improving the quality of the state's teachers, the governor declared repeatedly.

Through the summer, Branstad threatened to call the legislature back for a special session to "fix" the package.

As a lame duck, Branstad was short on clout, but he also had less to fear than lawmakers running for re-election in November.

Legislative leaders, for their part, insisted that they had done the best they could do and said they deplored the spectacle of Republicans battling one another.

The governor tried to coax action by unveiling a new pay plan that would have rewarded teachers who were judged to be the best according to statewide standards and a special new panel.

The proposal, which was bargained with key education groups and state education officials, also called for rewarding the teaching staffs at individual schools where student achievement had gone up.

Top legislators remained unimpressed, and in late July, Branstad conceded that there would not be a special session before he left office this month after 16 years.

It was unclear how Branstad's reform plans would fare under the new governor, Tom Vilsack, a former state senator. Vilsack is the first Democrat to be elected governor in Iowa in more than 30 years.

The incoming governor has been cool to the idea of required teacher-competency testing, which Republication lawmakers have said they will pursue this session.

In hopes of ensuring that teacher-quality issues would live past his tenure, Branstad last summer established a council to focus on education reform, including the possibility of raising private money for merit pay. He has also said he expects recommendations from a new task force on teacher preparation and licensure to go to the 1999 legislature.

"My biggest concern is complacency," Branstad said. "We have a lot to overcome because of this 'If-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it' mentality."

© 1999 Editorial Projects in Education

Vol. 18, number 17, page 145