Barb Kalbach is a fourth-generation farmer. In the Iowa Starting Line, she explains her plan to support public schools.
You can tell it’s almost time to vote when harvest is wrapping up. We finished our beans several weeks ago, and we got our corn out the other day. Prices are too low and costs are too high, but we have our fingers crossed. Just like I have my fingers crossed that we’ll elect more state legislators who will fight for fully-funded public schools and push back against private school vouchers.
In early October, I attended one of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) Action’s book tour meetings with Jennifer Berkshire, co-author of “The Education Wars.” We held seven meetings in five days. Nearly 200 people showed up—parents, teachers, school board members, candidates running for public office—and we covered a lot of ground.
We talked about how all of us benefit from strong public schools because they’ve made our country—and our state—far more equal, educated, and democratic.
We talked about public schools being accountable to their local communities and how they don’t discriminate—how they give all students an opportunity to explore new ideas and develop their skills, talents, and minds.
We talked about studies from different states that show student performance and achievement going down when private school voucher programs expand, and how vouchers are budget busters—they end up costing taxpayers a lot more than originally promised.
We talked about how the war on public schools that’s being waged here by Gov. Kim Reynolds, House Speaker Pat Grassley, and Senate President Amy Sinclair is part of a national playbook that’s funded by billionaires like Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education under Donald Trump.
