The State of Iowa currently provides funding for half a day of preschool for four year olds. Rob Sand, the Democrat running for governor, says the statewide voluntary preschool program should expand to a full day, for both three- and four-year-olds.
“For every dollar you invest, you save $17 later on because when you’re able to start school that early, kids are less likely to commit crime (and) less likely to end up on state assistance, so that’s a good investment for taxpayers,” Sand said. “And when you have a child care shortage, it sets up a system that can help alleviate that as well.”
Sand cites a report indicating over half of the three- and four-year-olds in Iowa don’t attend preschool, partly because it’s unavailable or too expensive for their parents. The proposal is part of an affordability agenda Sand released yesterday. He’s proposing a new state tax credit for the estimated 57,000 loaw income Iowans are the primary caregiver for an elderly or disabled spouse or relative. Sand would also sign a bill to put limits on utility service fees. And Sand pledges to find ways to reduce prescription drug costs.
“I think there’s states around the country that tend to be Republican or tend to be Democratic that have good ideas on this,” Sand said.
Sand, who spoke with reporters before an event in rural Madison County last night, said the state should crack down on price gouging by drug companies and he’d appoint a “Prescription Drugs Review Board” to help Iowa negotiate lower prescription drug costs for life-saving medicine, like insulin. He’d ask the board to consider the possibility of importing generic prescription drugs from Canada to lower costs for Iowans. “The idea about importing prescription drugs from Canada is one that came from Texas,” Sand said. “I do think that the new trade war that we have now started with Canada, that gets 30% of our exports from Iowa, might make that harder.”
In 2023, Texas began designing a program to get Canadian suppliers and wholesalers to ship lower-cost prescription medications into Texas, but has not yet gotten approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the initiative. The FDA did give Florida the go-ahead for a similar program, but Florida officials are still negotiating with Canadian manufacturers and distributors. Critics in Canada say their country’s supply of prescription medications would be depleted by exporting drugs to the U.S.