You can’t miss the non-stop political ads for Iowa’s House and Senate races. Many of the Republicans are crowing about raising teacher pay and commenting that Iowa Democrats voted against those raises, failing to mention that, for purely political motives, the pay-raise provision was attached to the Area Education Agency (AEA) bill that is unpopular with most Iowans.
For years Iowa Democrats in the legislature have worked to increase pay for Iowa teachers and support staff. But they couldn’t support the AEA bill that was rushed, against the will of the people, detrimental to rural schools and another step toward education privatization.
The Iowa GOP Chair commented that the vote demonstrated that Senate Democrats prioritize education unions over teachers, ignoring the fact that Senate Republicans never took action on a standalone bill to increase teacher pay, legislation the Iowa House passed in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion—92 “yes” votes to one “no” vote…