DES MOINES – State lawmakers plunged into budget issues and controversy Wednesday, with majority Democratic senators approving $8.5 million in supplemental funding to maintain staffing levels at the state’s prisons and community-based corrections system and offering their opening bid for state aid to K-12 public schools by proposing a 4 percent boost in “allowable growth” base budgeting for fiscal 2014 under a forward-funding law that Gov. Terry Branstad wants to repeal.
Legislative Republicans responded with skepticism as prospects rose for the split-control General Assembly to hunker down for another spending battle that may impede efforts to complete an election-year session a week short of the 100-day target. Partisan clashes over budget issues last year kept lawmakers in session for 173 days and pushed them within hours of a possible government shutdown before they forged compromise and adjourned for the year with a $5.999 billion spending plan and a projected $389.6 million ending balance.
Democrats, who control the Senate with a 26-24 majority, moved a measure through committee Wednesday that seeks to raise state aid per pupil by $240 in fiscal 2014 – an overall 4 percent boost that would raise average state spending to $6,241 for each student enrolled in the school year beginning July 1, 2013. Iowa’s K-12 public school districts received no increase in state funding for the current fiscal year, but Branstad and the split-control Legislature agreed to a 2 percent increase for the fiscal year that begins next July 1.
Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, chairman of the Senate Education Committee which unanimously moved the school funding issues to the debate calendar, said even with a 4 percent increase in allowable growth and categorical funding for class-size reduction, professional development and other educational programs, 99 districts with declining enrollment still would need to rely on supplemental property tax revenue under a budget guarantee to finance operations in fiscal 2014 – compared to 270 districts currently on the guarantee this year and a projected 205 next fiscal year. The overall state cost of a 4 percent increase in fiscal 2014 would be $142.6 million for allowable growth and $14.6 million for the “categorical” funding.
“Our schools have been through the ringer for two years,” said Quirmbach in advocating a base funding increase that would average 2 percent over three fiscal years. He called a 4 percent increase for the 2013-14 school year “appropriate” and “affordable” given that Iowa’s economy and state revenues are rebounding.
Rep. Scott Roecker, R-Urbandale, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said majority GOP representatives plan to set their fiscal 2013 spending targets soon but have not established an allowable growth figure for K-12 school funding in fiscal 2014 and support Barnstead’s call for repealing the forward-funding law this session that requires the governor and Legislature to establish the per-pupil state aid level nearly 18 months in advance during the first 30 days after the governor issues proposed spending recommendations.
“We need to be cautious,” Roecker said. “Although we’re pleased we can fulfill the 2 percent allowable growth we set, my concern is that when we set allowable growth in advance and then have to back off.” He noted the governor is considering education reform changes that would cost between $200 million and $300 million during the 2014 fiscal year. “That would have to be factored into setting allowable growth,” he said.
During Wednesday’s floor debate on this year’s supplemental spending bill, Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the extra money is needed to maintain safety for correctional officers, inmates and others at institutions run by the state Department of Corrections. The funding levels approved on a 26-23 Senate vote and sent to the GOP-led House was $2 million more than the governor requested and likely will face changes as Senate File 2071 works its way through the split-control Legislature this session.
Sen. Daryl Beall, D-Fort Dodge, argued that all corrections facilities face staffing shortages that create serious safety concerns. He said the governor’s proposal did not provide extra money for four state prisons and three CBCs that face the same financial pressures as the other 17 state institutions.
“We need more money, we need more officers,” said Danny Homan, president of American, Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 61, the largest state employees’ union which represents correctional workers in Iowa. “I don’t care what the management of the Department of Corrections say, our prisons are in bad shape and there’s got to be some relief before somebody gets hurt.”
John Baldwin, director of the state Department of Corrections, said he would welcome whatever extra money the governor and the Legislature provides yet this fiscal year.
“The department supports what Gov. Branstad put in,” he said Wednesday. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens. Clearly, we are gearing up for what Gov. Branstad had, and then whatever the Legislature comes up with, we will react to it.” He said the $6.5 million that the governor included in the budget plan he presented to lawmakers Jan. 10 would enable his agency to maintain current staffing levels through June 30.
During a fiscal 2013 budget presentation to the House-Senate justice systems subcommittee, Baldwin said his agency currently has 2,684 staff in Iowa prisons housing 8,487 inmates and 1,108 workers supervising a CBC population of 30,517 offenders. Those levels compared to 3,064 employees at Iowa prisons and 1,182 at CBC institutions in fiscal 2009.
Last month Branstad has asked the split-control Legislature to spend another $7.5 million to cover costs associated the state’s suspended film tax credit program and $6.5 million to pay for staff currently working at state prisons and community-based corrections facilities for the current fiscal year. Senate Democrats want to cover the costs from the state’s ending balance, but House Republicans say projected reversions should cover the film tax credits and they want any extra corrections spending to be offset by cuts in other areas in order to hold overall general-fund spending below $6 billion.
S.F. 2071 also included language to establish a three-tiered process for counties to apply for about $5 million remaining in the mental-health risk pool. Backers said the proposal could make it possible for Linn County to apply for up to $1 million to provide services without having to turn people away, pare back services or find county replacement funds to meet local needs.

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