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POLITICS

WATCH: Schools are shortchanged in the heartland

If you live in Iowa, you know public school funding is a hot topic.

Educators warn of a “funding crisis” as state aid lags behind inflation. How much of a lag? State aid is now $888 less per student than it would have been if kept in line with inflation. That’s not $888 of new money—it would have been just enough aid to keep up with current expenses with inflation.

And it seems that things are about to get worse. For the upcoming school year, the Iowa Senate proposed a 1.75% increase in state aid. Gov. Kim Reynolds recommended 2%. Both fall short of the 5% increase requested by the Iowa State Education Association to keep pace with rising costs.

✏️: Salina Heller

POLITICS - Iowa Starting Line

WATCH: Iowa Mennonites hold ‘Sing Down the Doors at Target’ protests against ICE

Iowa Mennonites and supporters joined nationwide protests calling for Target, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, to publicly oppose the violent actions of ICE and federal agents in Minnesota.

Mennonite Action, a national organization with local chapters in Johnson, Washington, and Iowa counties, has been organizing to call for an end to the military occupation of Palestine. The “Sing Down the Doors at Target” protests were also meant to link “military-style” violence in America and Palestine.

“We are distraught by the hijacking of Christianity to justify hate and division,” Aliese Gingerich of First Mennonite Church of Iowa City said in a press release. “Christian nationalism is not Christlike. It has nothing to do with the teachings and the example of Jesus Christ, who called us to love our neighbor and to care for the vulnerable—from Palestine to Minnesota to Iowa City.”

POLITICS - Iowa Starting Line
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