The 2.5% increase in Supplemental State Aid for public schools that was signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds Thursday held much of the discussion at the Washington Chamber of Commerce’s legislative briefing Saturday.

This was the first monthly briefing of the Iowa legislative session as snow canceled the January event. Senator Kevin Kinney of District 39 was the only of Washington County’s four legislators who attended the briefing, and he voted against the 2.5% that Reynolds proposed, as the minority party sought for 5%. Washington Superintendent Willie Stone spoke of his disappointment to not get to ask the Republican legislators Saturday about SSA, “I had one of the senators emailed me back and said, ‘Well, we’ve given $2 billion over two decades.’ Okay, that sounds huge and what I found, not you so much Kevin, because you honestly don’t do it. But they try to throw out big numbers to try to scare people off but $2 billion in a budget of over a 20 year program, a budget of $140 billion, it really isn’t anything. It’s like $2 in comparison to $100 to an average person.”

Heather Hora who is running against Washington Mayor Jaron Rosien for the Republican nomination for House District 92 expressed concerns with students’ behavior towards teachers, “I think we need to get a handle on what’s happening in the classrooms and if you don’t have children that are there you don’t really know what it looks like. And I don’t think teacher burnout is coming from not getting paid, I think it’s coming from behavior. My thing for you guys to talk about is how do we, whether it’s mental health or smaller class sizes. We need to look at all of that, but I don’t think throwing money at the problem will ever solve that problem.”

Stone disagreed with Hora’s claim about more funding, as it could help provide therapy and other mental health services for kids with behavioral issues. Stone also commented on Reynolds’ school voucher bill that he fears will hurt the students who are turned away from private schools while taking tax-funded per-pupil dollars away from public schools. Kinney gave an update on what is happening at the State Capitol following the first funnel week to a group of about 20 people at the Washington County Courthouse. Senator Jeff Reichman (R) and representatives Jarad Klein (R) and Joe Mitchell (R) were not in attendance, and Kinney also received comments and questions regarding hunting law proposals, unemployment, Medicaid services for nursing homes, and other education matters. The Chamber’s legislative briefings are held the third Saturday of the month at 10 a.m., with the next scheduled for March 19th.