(Exira/EHK) Exira/EHK and IKM/Manning Superintendent of Schools Trevor Miller says the education funding bill signed by the Governor this past week, will help both districts.
Miller says there is a cost to shuttling students back forth in school districts with facilities in different locations. He says to get the two districts down to a level playing field, Exira/EHK receives $5,000.00 per month toward transportation costs and IKM/Manning takes in roughly $9,000.00 per month.
“This is a great opportunity and I appreciate our legislature for getting this passed,” said Exira/EHK and IKM/Manning Schools Superintendent Trevor Miller. ”I’m happy the legislature continues to move forward to make sure transportation equity is fair for all. Because transportation costs put a large dent in some of the smaller districts’ budgets. So we look forward to having this funding in the future.”
The bill is designed to help schools with transportation funding and per-pupil equity. Transportation equity was first funded in the fiscal year 2019 to help absorb transportation costs associated with students traveling across rural communities. The latest bill provides more than $7.2 million in new funding for the 204 school districts with transportation costs above the statewide average of $347.65 per pupil and provides $5.9 million for per-pupil spending equity.
In her Condition of the State address, Governor Reynolds called for over $103 million in new funding for Iowa schools, including an increase in per-pupil funding and transportation equity. With that investment, the state of Iowa will have spent $13 billion on PreK-12 since 2017.
SF 2164: This is an act relating to public school funding by modifying provisions relating to the regular program state cost per pupil and to appropriations to the transportation equity fund and including effective date provisions.
