(Iowa Capital Dispatch) The Iowa Senate sent legislation to the governor’s desk Monday for the state’s per-pupil funding for Iowa K-12 schools for the 2026-2027 year.
Senate File 2201 was amended from the last time it was debated on the Senate floor. Senators initially passed a 1.75% State Supplemental Aid (SSA) rate for the upcoming school year. The House sent the measure back with a 2% rate — a compromise, as House Republicans initially called for a 2.25% SSA rate.
Other parts of the compromise agreement reached between House and Senate Republicans, as well as the governor, include $7 million allocated for paraeducator and support personnel pay, a $1 million limit on transportation equity payments for school districts, and implementing a new system of calculating student enrollment, with counts occurring twice each year.
The legislation also extends property tax relief payments by an additional year and has the state take on an expected $42.2 million in funding for school districts placed on the budget guarantee. The budget guarantee is the state’s system allowing school districts to increase property taxes in years when the district cannot meet its obligations through state funding.
Senate Democrats echoed many of the same arguments they made earlier in February when the measure first passed their chamber, saying the 2% rate was inadequate for Iowa’s public school system. Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, brought up examples of Story County school districts having to cut programs or staff due to funding issues in communities like Boone, where the school district ended its 100-year-old orchestra program, and Ballard, where the school district plans to cut its preschool program and permanent substitute teacher positions due to budget shortfalls.
“You can pretty much go to any school district, and I would encourage you to do so … to learn the lesson that your Senate district, your Senate constituents and their children and their grandchildren, are suffering,” Quirmbach said. “But no. I don’t know if you’ve done that or not, but you certainly haven’t learned the lesson very well, or listened very well. You’re coming back to us with 2%, up from (1.75%), what a magnanimous, generous outpouring of support for our children, our grandchildren, our future.”
The Iowa State Education Association and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, alongside several other advocates and educators, have called for a 5% SSA rate, which organizers said would be the minimum amount necessary for schools to keep up with inflation while avoiding budget cuts. House Democrats introduced an amendment to raise the SSA rate to 5%, which failed during Thursday’s floor debate.
Iowa CCI Board President Jenny Turner called the 2% SSA rate “a slap in the face to Iowa’s students and public schools” in a statement Monday.
“We are only going to see more programs like Boone’s century old orchestra program being shuttered,” Turner said. “Other districts are moving to four day school weeks. Staff is being cut across the board, leaving teachers with unmanageable class sizes. Make no mistake. We will remember each and every vote to shortchange our students come November.”
In addition to criticizing the funding shortfalls, Senate Democrats linked the SSA rate with rising costs for the state’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program, which provides state dollars for private school tuition and associated costs. The program does not have income limits as of the 2025-2026 school year.
Sen. Molly Donahue, D-Marion, said the Republican trifecta in power at the Statehouse has told Iowans “there isn’t enough money to responsibly fund the public schools to the level of which your schools have all asked,” but said the majority party has “written a blank check for private school vouchers” for educational institutions that are not required to accept students with disabilities and English language learners, and do not have to meet the same public accountability standards as public schools.
“So somehow, when it comes to private schools, the checkbook is open,” Donahue said. “But when it comes to the public schools, the backbone of the rural Iowa, small towns in our cities, suddenly we are told to tighten the belts. That’s not fiscal responsibility, that is a preference choice. Republicans cannot claim to support public education while systematically draining resources from it.”
But Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, said the measure amounts to an increase of $111.5 million in new dollars for Iowa’s schools in the upcoming fiscal year. The measure provides a $160 increase per student compared to the current fiscal year, raising the state cost per pupil to $8,148 in FY 2027. He also pointed to other divisions in the bill — like the transportation equity payments cap and the change to how enrollment counts are certified — as provisions that “are going to be beneficial for a number of districts in our state.”
The bill passed in a 27-20 vote and goes to Gov. Kim Reynolds for final approval.
