Education Task Force and Commission members deliver letter to Governor Branstad and Legislature

DES MOINES, IA (04/22/2015)(readMedia)-- Members of the Task Force on Teacher Leadership and Compensation and the Commission on Educator Leadership and Compensation delivered a letter to Governor Terry Branstad and Members of the Iowa Legislature reminding them of the parameters of the Teacher Leadership and Compensation funding.

It has become clear through the long debate over Supplemental State Aid (SSA) this legislative session that the Teacher Leadership and Compensation System (TLC) funds are being counted in a grand total for basic school services. This accounting implies a greater level of budget support for basic funding than actually exists. TLC funds are not to be used for anything other than the TLC program and to count them toward a general fund is irresponsible and misleading.

"House Republicans have declared their education budget total at $100 million which actually includes $50 million from the TLC program. So, in reality, only $50 million of that total goes to basic general funding in our schools. That was not the intent of the TLC dollars, nor is it honest accounting," said Mary Jane Cobb, ISEA Executive Director, and a member of both the Task Force on Teacher Leadership and Compensation and the Commission on Educator Leadership.

"The Teacher Leadership funding is allocated only to schools that have been approved in the application process for very specific uses--and not all districts receive these funds. TLC is a special initiative, and should not detract from the resources provided to schools to meet the basic services to our students," said Lisa Bartusek, Executive Director of the Iowa Association of School Boards and Member of the Commission on Educator Leadership and Compensation.

"We have fully supported the TLC program every step along the way, but never envisioned that funding this initiative would sacrifice basic school funding. Our schools are a worthy investment of taxpayer dollars, to keep up with the basic costs of doing school business and to improve instruction," added Lew Finch, Executive Director, of the Urban Education Network of Iowa.

Thirty members of both the Task Force on Teacher Leadership and Compensation and the Commission on Educator Leadership signed the letter to Governor Branstad and the Legislature. The letter makes clear that the funds going into the Teacher Leadership and Compensation System (TLC), a three-year phase-in program aimed at elevating positions in schools to meaningful and well-designed leadership and collaborative opportunities by cultivating and utilizing the expertise of educators, are kept separate and apart from the general education funds.

Members of the task force and the commission include members from the Iowa Public Education Coalition, a group of the state's largest education organizations, which includes the Iowa State Education Association, Iowa Association of School Boards, the School Administrators of Iowa, the Iowa Area Education Agencies, the Urban Education Network of Iowa and the Rural Schools Advocates of Iowa.

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