Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com 

We’ve all probably been trapped in a no-win situation. There’s no way out. There’s no good choice.

That’s often called Hobson’s choice. It was supposedly named after a 17^th century stable owner named Hobson who had a corner on the market and forced customers to choose the horse closest to the door or take no horse at all.

Customers had no real choice. They could walk or pay good money for a bad horse which Hobson always located closest to the door.

Hobson’s choice is depicted by the cartoon bully scowling, doubling his first, and shouting, “Do you want to get punched in the stomach or face?”

No choice, just an ultimatum.

The majority party in the Iowa legislature has trapped public schools in a no-win situation. It’s Hobson’s choice at its worst because it isn’t about a broken-down horse, it’s about the futures of public school students.

Iowa Senate Republicans passed a bill increasing State Supplemental Aid (state funding per pupil in public schools) by 1.75 percent. Governor Kim Reynolds had proposed a 2 percent increase. Republicans on the Iowa House Appropriations subcommittee voted for an increase of 2.25 percent. After backroom negotiations, the full House amended the Senate’s 1.75 percent increase to 2 percent, and it passed both chambers with votes only from the majority party. 

It was “Kabuki theater.” The outcome seemed predetermined to be a 2 percent increase in school funding.

One chamber’s proposal was a punch in the face. The other was a punch in the stomach. Every education group said schools needed at least a 5 percent increase to survive chronic underfunding and inflation.

The final bill included an additional $7 million to increase pay for paraeducators and support staff, but that was only half of the $14 million House Republicans had wanted. Although that funding is needed, it is really a band aid solution to a tourniquet problem.

A 2 percent increase in state funding means per pupil spending will be $8,148, or $160 more per student than the state gave for this academic year. My guess is that most families will spend more than $160 on each of their students just getting them outfitted for the new school year.

Public schools will need to make no-win choices, impacting students and the communities where they live. Cutting programs, teacher layoffs, increasing class sizes, closing buildings, and/or four-day school weeks will be on many school board agendas. Taxpayers could see property tax increases. 

Rural schools may not have long enough buses to hold all the letters in the reorganized school district names. If a town loses all or part of its public school, the town is on a death watch.

So, what caused this Hobson’s choice?

A few factors are most important. Under the 2023 law creating Iowa’s school voucher program, every student enrolled in private school next year (regardless of their family’s income) will be eligible for $8,148 in an Education Savings Account—the same amount as state funding per pupil in public schools. There’s no ceiling on how much the state may spend on Education Savings Accounts. Although the exact numbers are sketchy, approximately 27,866 students received private school vouchers in 2023. 

By 2024 that number grew by 11,109 students. If the private school voucher plan continues to grow unchecked, 2 percent might well become the meager maximum increase for all future years. Quite simply, Iowa can’t afford two publicly funded school systems, separate and unequal.

Second, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Service Agency, Iowa’s revenue has decreased by 8.1 percent since fiscal year 2024. This year the state will tap into the Taxpayer Relief Fund and the ending balance (past budget surplus) to fill a hole of nearly $1.3 billion. 

Third, the majority party appears to favor private over public schools. A new private school voucher plan combined with steep income tax cuts blew a hole in the budget.

Voters hold the key to unlocking Hobson’s choice. If there had been a rival stable, Hobson’s broken-down horses would have stayed by the door, and buyers would have had a real choice. 

The same is true in politics. The majority party has been in control for a decade, and Iowa schools have received insufficient state funding. It’s time for voters to shift the balance of power, so politicians can offer public schools more than Hobson’s choices.

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Top image is by Bankrx, available via Shutterstock.