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Iowa News You Can Use

WATCH: What’s siphoning money out of Iowa’s public schools?

By Iowa Production Staff, Salina Heller

February 19, 2026

Could Iowa phase out private school vouchers someday?

That’s what a grassroots group is working toward.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) wants to get rid of vouchers and put the tax money that goes to private schools back into the public school system.

CCI is organizing people to urge their local school boards to pass a resolution that demands the governor and state legislature end vouchers, plus provide a 5% annual increase in public school funding.

So far at least 10 of Iowa’s 327 school districts have unanimously passed resolutions, including the Cedar Rapids Community School District.

That’s where Kelly McMahon is a kindergarten teacher.

✏️: Salina Heller

  • Iowa Production Staff

    ,

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  • Salina Heller

    A former 15-year veteran of reporting local news for western Wisconsin TV and radio stations, Salina Heller also volunteers in community theater, helps organize the Chippewa Valley Air Show, and is kept busy by her daughter’s elementary school PTA meetings. She is a UW-Eau Claire alum.

    View all posts

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Sign the petition to keep CNH in Burlington here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/tell-case-new-holland-invest-in-burlington-protect-our-plant?source=direct_link&&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Iowa%20Worker%27s%20Almanac%2011-13-25&utm_term=Iowa%20Starting%20Line%20-%20Workers%20Almanac

For more stories like this directly to your inbox, subscribe to the Iowa Worker’s Almanac.

WATCH: Iowa’s economic crash out (PT 1) – Cornhole Champions #46

WATCH: Iowa’s economic crash out (PT 1) – Cornhole Champions #46

It’s easy to miss what’s happening in Iowa when you’re scrolling past headlines. GDP down 6.1% in Q1. Soybean markets shipped to Argentina. A $20 billion bailout that somehow bypassed the farmers who needed it most. But this isn’t just about tariffs or trade policy. It’s about who holds power in Iowa and who gets left behind.

On Cornhole Champions, host Zachary Oren Smith sat down with Chase Seibert and Liz Fleming to unpack the New York Times story everyone should be reading: how Trump’s economic policies hit Iowa harder than almost anywhere else in the country.

Toss some bags about Iowa’s economic woes… health insurance costs going up… and some reflection on a year of Cornhole Champions.

Cornhole Champions is a weekly politics and policy podcast powered by Iowa Starting Line, hosted by Zachary Oren Smith and produced by Rebecca Steinberg, with music by Avery Mossman and art by Desirée Tapia.

SHOW RUNDOWN:
0:00 – Cold open and Zach’s cryptic note about chips
1:30 – Marinette Miller Meeks refuses town halls: “When hell freezes over”
4:30 – Welcome to Cornhole Champions and what’s coming today
6:30 – The New York Times story Iowa needs to read: Trump’s policies hit hard
9:00 – Why bailouts don’t help small farmers and Argentina gets our markets
11:00 – John Deere layoffs, tariffs, and what it means for the Quad Cities
12:00 – Immigration crackdowns devastate Iowa’s meat packing industry

*LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE TO CORNHOLE CHAMPIONS:*
– YouTube – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2LsUFhizO07jdk5Wav4mOT7tArltF8z5&si=FryZd7N7tG5tJ5Ju
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– Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cornhole-champions-podcast/id1779497714
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– PocketCasts – https://pca.st/74atty1j
… and everywhere you listen to podcasts

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