Head of teachers’ union says budget cuts continue to hurt schoolkids

The leader of Iowa’s largest teachers’ union is “disappointed” that schools will again pay a steep price for the state’s economic troubles.
Iowa State Education Association president Jolene Franken, of Denison, says the latest budget cuts will cut too deeply in a system already struggling financially. Franken says in the 1980s, schools bore the brunt of -quote- devastating across-the-board budget cuts. During the past decade, when the economy was booming, -quote- “we still did not share equally in what was happening with economic growth here in the state. So once again, the state budget is being balanced on the backs of our kids.”
Franken says there’s still a question mark over the proposed teacher pay plan, without which, she says the state will continue losing quality teachers to other better-paying states.
She says whether the economy is good or bad and regardless of a war on terrorism, -quote- “all levels of education deserve a quality public education.” Franken represents 32-thousand Iowa teachers and school support staff.