The University of Northern Iowa has decided to keep its lab school intact. The university had considered cutting the upper grades of the school used as a training ground for new teachers, as a way to deal with state budget cuts. UNI President Robert Koob says cuts and changes in the structure of the school will allow them to keep all grades, kindergarten through 12.He says another sharp state budget reduction might make them look at the issue again, but he says the moves they’ve made should keep the school on solid ground for the near future. The closing of the senior grades of the school has generated a lot of discussion, but Koob says it was just one of the many options being considered.Koob says he didn’t have any preconceived notion about closing the school, he says they simply offered several options to try and use the dollars that remained after the budget cut. There’s been an ongoing national discussion about the need for these types of schools since the 1970s, and Koob says the Price Lab School on the UNI campus survived those talks.He says the school survived the trend toward cutting such schools, and now there’s a trend back toward the schools as the need for teachers grows. Koob believes some form of the lab school will always be important.He says they need a lab school and some sort of partnership with other schools. Koob says there may be some reassignment of personnel in the school, but says there won’t be any need to cut faculty to keep the school running.
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