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Senator Weiner urges Senate to follow Iowa Code 257.8 and pass school funding
Summary
Senator Weiner said the Senate is required by Iowa Code 257.8 to set the state percent of growth within 30 days of the governor's budget transmission and called on colleagues to pass school funding for about 490,000 students.
Senator Weiner, of Johnson, told the Senate on April 1 that the chamber must follow Iowa Code 257.8 and enact the state percent of growth for school funding within 30 days of the governor's budget transmission.
"By statute, Iowa Code 257.8, it says, the state percent of growth for each subsequent budget year shall be established by statute, which shall be enacted within 30 days of the transmission of the governor's budget, which is in any event required by February 1," Senator Weiner said. "Simply because there is nothing in the statute that that creates some sort of penalty for not doing that does not mean that the laws that this body pass is do not apply to this body. We owe it to the 490,000 school kids in all those school districts across this state to do our job, to follow the law, and to pass school funding."
Weiner's remarks framed the obligation as a statutory timeline issue rather than a policy dispute about funding levels. The senator tied the procedural requirement to the statewide population of students, saying the chamber had a duty to act on the statutory deadline.
No specific funding bill, appropriation totals or committee referrals were discussed on the floor during the remark; Weiner's comments were a call to action rather than the introduction of legislation.
