Education Funding

Charter school students have more access to classes and services through their home district under a bill signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The Cedar Rapids school board voted to close six schools in an effort to right-size the district’s finances. District officials said they see it as an opportunity to give students the best chance at a high-quality public education as the district faces pressure from state-funded education savings accounts and new charter schools opening nearby.

Gov. Kim Reynolds gave final approval Thursday for a 2% funding increase for Iowa's K-12 schools for the next school year. It sets the state cost per student at $8,148, which amounts to an additional $160 in funding per student compared to the current year.

Republican lawmakers have approved a 2% increase in K-12 funding, sending the bill to the governor for final approval.

Since its inception in 1965 in President Lyndon B. Johnson's "war on poverty," the federal Head Start program has served nearly 40 million children and their families in preparing to succeed in school and life. Head Start has faced a number of challenges in recent years, including flat funding, new mandates, attacks from the Trump Administration and a proposal to eliminate the program entirely. On this episode, we here from different Head Start stakeholders in Iowa about the services this program provides to young children and their families, how they are managing this changing landscape and what the future may hold for this program.

Iowa leads the nation with a federal education funding waiver — what does it mean for classrooms and students? We also explore farmers’ struggles, Iowa’s ties to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and other headlines from the week.