“I think it’s really, really embarrassing.”

Senator Sarah Trone Garriott (D-West Des Moines) normally takes great pride in the Iowa education system. But today she’s calling the lack of funding for students “shameful.”

A bill that gives school districts a 2% increase per pupil has been sent to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk, where she’s expected to sign it.

Trone Garriott says she and other Democrats argued with the state’s Republican majority that funding for Iowa’s public schools isn’t keeping up with inflation, and that half of the state’s districts will be under a “budget guarantee process” if the 2% is passed—which means property taxes will have to go up to help schools maintain their budgets.

Meanwhile, a cap has been lifted on income requirements for families at any level of wealth to use taxpayer dollars to pay for their kids’ private school tuition.
“Anybody can apply. Even the richest, the richest Iowans who are already sending their kids to private school, they basically get this huge tax windfall, and it doesn't provide any good for doing it,” says Trone Garriott.

✏️: Salina Heller

Rep. JD Scholten is eyeing candidacy for Joni Ernst's senate seat. He says corporate consolidation and regional agricultural systems are issues he'd run on.

Listen to the full conversation on our podcast, Cornhole Champions: https://bit.ly/3RXyuDA

Places make cases for themselves. What case is Iowa making?

This week on our podcast Cornhole Champions hear from a young candidate trying to buck the trend of brain drain. Check out the full show where you listen to podcasts. And sign up for the newsletter to get this episode when it drops Wednesday morning. cornholechampions.substack.com

They dealt with swerving trucks in front of them and an unwelcoming church behind them. But Cedar Falls showed up in the hundreds anyway, lining a mile-long stretch of busy Greenhill Road this weekend as part of the 50501 Day of Action.

Rep. JD Scholten, a potential for the 2026 US Senate race, said a key goal of his as a federal official would be fighting for campaign finance reform.