Building in Iowa
As part of a new law that imposes a statewide sales tax for schools, districts in Iowa with fewer than 250 students (or fewer than 100 students at the high-school level) will not be able to build new facilities unless they receive approval from the state, The Des Moines Register reports.
State officials say they want to prevent very small school systems with declining enrollment from using scarce tax revenue to build new facilities in an effort to keep their districts in existence.
“You don’t want a building that’s empty after five or 10 years,” said Gary Schwartz, a school facilities consultant with the Iowa Department of Education. “You want to make good use of taxpayers’ money.”
The article says that 35 districts in Iowa are small enough to fall under the law’s provisions.
Do you think the state’s plans to have veto power over school construction in these small districts is warranted?
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