Hite Capitol Update: 01/31/19
Rep. Dustin Hite (R-District 79)
I had the opportunity to serve on some exciting subcommittees this past week. On Tuesday, I chaired my first subcommittee meeting as a member of the Iowa House. The meeting was to discuss House Study Bill 8, which addresses the number of counties in which a clerk of court may serve and residency requirements. The bill passed through subcommittee unanimously, and is now on its way to the full committee for consideration. I would like to thank Representatives Jones (R-Clay) and Derry (D-Polk) for their help in this subcommittee. I also had the opportunity to serve on the subcommittee for House Study Bill 68, a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the State Constitution that would restore felon voting rights in Iowa. This is a proposition supported by the Governor, and it will be an important piece of legislation moving forward. The House Study Bill passed out of subcommittee unanimously, and it will now face the attention of the full committee. Thank you to Representatives Kaufmann (R-Cedar) and Wolfe (D-Clinton) for their work on this subcommittee.
With last week’s release of the annual Condition of Education Report (found here), a few areas of note are available for viewing.
Student numbers have continued their climb, increasing for the 7th year in a row. The number of students last year reached 486,264. This is up 9,245 from 10 years ago and up 12,771 from the lowest number in the 10-year span (2010-11). Teacher numbers have continued to climb as well, to meet the student demand. 10 years ago the number of teachers in the state was at 34,744. The latest number is 37,035, an increase of 2,291. During that period, however, teacher numbers dipped even lower to 33,916. Today’s numbers are 3,119 above that low-water mark.
Both teacher and student numbers have increased, but has the teacher number kept up? Yes. The overall teacher/student ratio has decreased to another low. It reached 13.13 students per every teacher, down from 13.73 10 years ago and 13.96 at its highest point (2010-11). Salaries for teachers have continued to climb as well. Last year saw an increase to $58,765. This is up from $49,664 10 years ago, an increase of $9,101. For rankings nationally we held steady at 22nd in the nation and 5th in the Midwest. 22nd is not only the lowest in this 10 year span, but also by far the lowest over the past 2 decades. We reached 40th in the nation in 2005-06. These stats and many more can be found in the 2018 Condition of Education Report: https://educateiowa.gov/sites/files/ed/documents/2018ConditionOfEducation.pdf
Additionally, I would like to remind everyone the Internal Revenue Service is officially accepting and processing federal tax returns for tax year 2018. The IRS expects more than 150 million individual tax returns to be filed this season and has already received several million in the opening hours. The IRS expects the first refunds to go out at the beginning of February but taxpayers can check the “Where’s My Refund?” website after filing to see where in the process their refund is. The filing deadline to submit 2018 tax returns is Monday, April 15, 2019. About 90 percent of returns are expected to be filed electronically and selecting direct deposit is the fastest way to receive a refund. By law, any returns claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit will not see refunds before February 15. The IRS Free File program is available at IRS.gov and gives eligible taxpayers multiple options for filing and preparing their tax returns. IRS Free File is available to individuals and families with incomes of $66,000 or less.
Finally, I would like to shout out some constituents I was able to meet with this week in Des Moines. Dr. Molly Walker was in Des Moines for the Optometrist Day on the Hill, Randy Pleima met with me on behalf of Mahaska County Rural Water, and Judge Owens met with me to discuss specialty courts in Iowa. Thank you to those three and I look forward to meeting more of you as the year progresses.
