WIC provides nutritious foods, nutrition education and breastfeeding support for new and expecting parents and children under 5. It's one of the very few supports available to immigrant families without documentation. IA SSB 696 would cut them off. www.cbpp.org/research/foo...
Read the full post from Common Good Iowa Executive Director @adischer.bsky.social here:
We can once again be the state that defines itself by the quality of public education it offers its children, but it’s going to take realigning our aspirations for our children with the budgets that serve them.
Iowa state quarter showing a Grant Wood image of a one-room school under the phase "Foundation in Education."
As recently as 2004 Iowans held our education system in such high regard, we put a one-room schoolhouse on our state quarter under the words “Foundation in Education.”
and students face growing mental-health and other challenges that complicate experiences in and outside of the schoolroom.
Our failure to keep up has happened as 2 in 5 Iowa students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches — reflecting the same inequality of opportunity along racial and geographic lines we see in our broader communities —
You can't have a serious talk about school-funding trends without factoring in inflation. Yes, lawmakers increase SSA almost every year. But since 2017, lawmakers have continually set general per-pupil school funding lower than what was needed to keep pace with expenses.
We have yet to see an SSA proposal from the House, but given the state's estimated $1.3 billion budget shortfall and lawmakers' drive for local property-tax cuts, there's no reason to expect it to be substantially better than that of the Senate and Governor.
The Senate bill would set Supplemental State Aid — the rate of increase in general per-pupil funding from the previous year — at 1.75%. The Governor beats that figure, but barely, proposing a paltry 2% SSA increase in her budget.
FY 2027 school funding proposals would keep Iowa on downward trajectory Supplemental State Aid (SSA) by fiscal year, FY 2000-26 actuals, FY 2027 proposed
Fitting for Groundhog's Day week, an #IAlegis Senate committee advanced a bill yesterday that would do the same thing the Legislature did last year, and the year before that: slowly starve our schools. It falls far below what's needed to keep up with rising costs & meet the needs of Iowa students.
Register here, and see you on the 10th: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
You'll learn how:
* Tax cuts skewed to the rich have opened a structural deficit
* Adopting federal tax provisions makes our revenue problem worse
* New state spending on things like vouchers exacerbates the challenge
* Iowa’s fiscal situation relative to other states is not as rosy as some say
Folks from Common Good Iowa and @centeronbudget.bsky.social will walk you through how we got into this mess, how we can get out, and how you can advocate for a state budget that supports great public schools, accessible health care and other services that promote widespread economic opportunity.
Perfect storm: Iowa's budget challenges Webinar | November 10 at noon
Perhaps you've seen the news. State officials this month released new projections showing a continued — and worrying — drop in revenue. So many numbers, so much spin. How to make sense of it all? We're here to help. us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
If there’s one thing everybody agrees on, it’s that the tax cuts the Legislature has passed over the last handful of years were definitely going to reduce state revenue. That was the line yesterday from REC members, who met to sign off on new revenue projections.
Our statement on passage of the federal reconciliation bill
www.commongoodiowa.org/policy-areas...
The U.S. is debating the federal budget bill, which will cut thousands of Iowans off #Medicaid and SNAP, right now. How many people are at risk of losing health care and food assistance in your county?
Explore our interactive data tool here: www.commongoodiowa.org/data/medicai...
Iowa is home to two of those House Rs who could make all the difference.
Senate Rs voted to pass a bill that wld raise food & health care costs on families, increase hunger & take health coverage away from millions of ppl while doubling down on tax cuts for the wealthy. House Rs must stand up for their communities & reject it. www.cbpp.org/press/statem...
The Senate version of the Medicaid work requirement in the "OBBB" doubles down and worsens a bad policy advanced by the House.
It also gives the Trump Administration enormous leverage to protect their Governor friends and punish their enemies.
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Rural fund is thus a "fig leaf" to placate R Senators concerned about #Medicaid cuts. It's small/capped, temporary while the cuts are permanent, poorly targeted, gives discretion to Trump Admin to send $ to favored states, and may not even go to help rural hospitals actually hurt by the cuts (8/x)
Every major bill language release is happening under the cover of night. Tracks since the bill is so unpopular.
Are Senators really going to set millions of families backwards by taking health coverage & food asst away from them? Is that why they got into politics? Really?
We don't yet have a Congressional Budget Office score for the Senate's version of the budget reconciliation bill. But, if I had to guess, the Medicaid cuts will be larger than the $793 billion in the House bill.
The truth is clear — the Senate Republican reconciliation bill will hurt people in every state if enacted. Senators who vote for it are responsible for its impact ⬇️
97,000 people equals nearly the entire population of the city of Davenport or Dubuque County. These are not modest cuts -- they will hurt every community in our state.
House Republicans passed a budget that would kick millions of children and seniors off their health care, gut SNAP food assistance and more.
Any member of Congress who votes for this bill is voting to betray working people—and we won’t forget. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Chart: House Republican Plan Would Take Health Care and Food Assistance Away from People to Pay for Tax Cuts for Wealthy
CBO data & other analyses make the House R agenda’s harmful impact crystal clear: it would raise costs on millions of families across the country, making it harder for them to meet basic needs — while showering ever larger tax breaks on the wealthy. www.cbpp.org/press/statem...
The House of Representatives, the people elected to protect Americans and our children, have voted to sacrifice babies for billionaires.
"The bill’s provisions represent a stunningly upside-down approach to budgeting that would shift resources away from low- and moderate-income Americans and toward the wealthy — as it drives our deficits to alarming levels.”
Overnight, the U.S. House passed a budget bill that would slash Medicaid, SNAP and the ACA marketplace -- and shower the wealthiest Americans with big tax breaks. Read Executive Director Anne Discher's statement here: www.commongoodiowa.org/policy-areas...
The House Republican bill would give huge tax breaks to wealthy individuals, businesses, and large corporations while leaving behind or raising costs for millions of working families.
Here are some of the impacts: www.cbpp.org/research/fed...
