The first funnel date has passed by and the second funnel date is this week. As you recall, the first funnel killed any bills that were not out of committee in the chamber where they originated. So, House files had to be out of House standing committees and Senate files had to be out of Senate standing committees. The second funnel, which is Friday, forces House files to be out of Senate committees and Senate files to be out of House committees. Bills that do not make it out of their respective committees will die in the second funnel.

Governor’s Student First

Scholarship proposal

This bill creates a Student First Scholarship program that gives 10,000 scholarships total per year.

Five thousand scholarships are available for students with IEPs and 5,000 scholarships are available for students with families at 400 percent FPL. (Same standard as eligible for STOs) I think 400 percent of poverty is too high. This would be $104,800 for a family of four.

Instead of money staying in the sending district, that money will be put in a separate fund and divided between school districts with 500 students or less.

For the school budget year beginning July 1, 2022, and each succeeding year, the following students shall be eligible to receive a Student First Scholarship:

• A pupil whose household has an annual income that is less than or equal to 400 percent of the most recent poverty income guidelines. The total number of scholarships approved by the Department of Education shall not exceed 5,000 in a school year.

• A pupil who has an IEP. The total number of scholarships approved by the Department of Education shall not exceed 5,000 in a school year.

• A pupil who received a Student First Scholarship for the immediately preceding school year, who is eligible to enroll in grade 1-12, who meets the requirements of the two above subsections and not otherwise ineligible under this section.

Student First Scholarships shall be made available to parents and guardians for the payment of qualified educational expenses.

No more than 10,000 scholarships shall be made available each year. I also feel that this number is too high.

These are approximate numbers, but what the math looks like is each student gets around $7,300 from the state. $5,300 of this will go into an account that will help pay for the school the parents and students decide to enroll in. The remaining $2,300 will go in a pool and be distributed to schools with less than 500 students. There are around 127 schools in this group.

The justice and judicial budgets

We passed the justice and judicial budgets out of our subcommittee. Passing the budgets tends to be one of the things that happens as we start the process of bringing the legislative session to a close. This makes me optimistic that we could be done here in three to four weeks, but we will just have to see.

I know and have heard from the correctional officers in Rockwell City and Fort Dodge, so I know the conditions you are working under. I continue to fight for as much money as I can get in the DOC budget. I know it will never be enough, but I will keep trying. The following is a summary of your budget:

• The Department of Public Safety will get an additional $3.1 million in FY 2023. The majority of that increase will go to the Iowa State Patrol, which will have a budget of $71.5 million for fiscal year 2023.

• This budget also provides $2.5 million for the Public Safety Equipment Fund. This fund was created last year to ensure the Department of Public Safety has the most up-to-date equipment and can stay on top of equipment maintenance.

• The Department of Corrections will receive an additional $7.1 million in the next budget year. With this increase, the Department of Corrections will have increased their budget by almost $29 million since FY 2021.

Our workers in the Department of Corrections are men and women doing an essential service for our state. We want to ensure they have the funding they need to do their jobs as safely as possible. As I stated above, I’m sure they will say this is not enough.

For the judicial branch, state spending would increase by $7.36 million for fiscal year 2023. The increase in funding will cover the costs of adding four new associate judge positions, and providing judges and magistrates with a 5.9 percent salary increase.

State Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City, represents Calhoun, Humboldt and Pocahontas counties plus western Webster County.