Budgets. Job security. Quality educations.

These are three concerns facing Iowa school districts and educators.

Chris Bern, the Iowa State Education Association president, visited the Fort Dodge school district Monday to discuss these issues with teachers, staff and administrators.

Bern said the big legislative focus is funding state schools.

"We're delighted with the governor's budget," Bern said.

On Jan. 27, Governor Chet Culver revealed his proposed budget for fiscal year 2011. In it Culver proposed 2 percent allowable growth for districts plus $100 million from the state's cash reserves.

"We think this indicates that the governor believes education is still a priority in the state," Bern said. "Trying to find where more money can come from will be difficult, but we believe there are ways to do so."

Bern said one area the ISEA is looking at is the 1 percent sales tax which is currently designated for infrastructure costs only. The union would like to make the funds available for district programs as well.

"Not all schools need to remodel or build, but they do need to fund their programs," Bern said. "A lot of districts are trying to find things to do with the money, like remodel their football field, which is all well and good, but when districts are eliminating art, music and advanced placement classes it seems they could use the money to support those programs."

Job security is another issue many district employees are concerned with, Bern said.

"I know Fort Dodge is having the same budget problems as other districts," he said. "They're looking for ways to cut and so forth, so they've offered early retirement."

Bern said teachers who are accepting the offer will undoubtedly create some gaps as they leave, but that could create an opportunity for college graduates who are ready and willing to enter the work force.

"I've been told it's been 30 years since we've seen anything of this scale," Bern said of the economic situation that has left education in a precarious position. "We'll come through this. The trouble in Iowa is that we're slow to go into the recession, and we'll be slow to come out of it. It may take us some time yet."

Despite money troubles, Bern said what he's seen "some great things" going on in classrooms across the state.

"It never ceases to amaze me to see students actively engaged in learning," Bern said. "At times it's frustrating to me that the media talks about how poorly Iowa schools are doing, because there are a lot of good things going on. Are there improvements to be made? Yes, we always need to look at ways to make education better."

Which is why Bern is excited that the state made the application deadline for the federal Race to the Top grant in January.

"Now we just have to wait until April and see what happens," Bern said. "We'll continue to talk about it though because if we don't make the first round, we'll resubmit our application. So we need to know what aspects are acceptable to change and what are not."

Two areas Bern doesn't see much negotiating room for are Pay for Performance initiatives and basing a portion of teacher evaluations on a single test score.

"My fear is that they'll tell us we need to beef up Pay for Performance or increase the number of charter schools," Bern said. "Those would be deal breakers in my mind."

Maria Smith, a kindergarten teacher at Hillcrest Elementary and an ISEA member, said she was glad the union kept pay for performance out of the Iowa Race to the Top application.

"I'm glad it's not going to be performance-based," Smith said. "There's no fair way to make our jobs performance-based. There are a lot of variables that contribute to how our students perform, not solely teacher performance."

Branwyn Greathouse, a special education teacher at Duncombe Elementary and an ISEA member, said the Fort Dodge Education Association felt the grant program served students and staff well.

"The FDEA team met as a whole and got everyone's opinion," Greathouse said. "We decided signing on was best for students and staff. If we get the grant and we still have questions, we'll go from there."

Contact Lindsey Mutchler at (515) 573-2141 or lindsey@messengernews.net