Local Quad-Cities lawmakers found some common ground, but largely split along party lines on how to help businesses struggling with workforce shortages.

The Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce hosted area state lawmakers at a forum Friday morning at Hotel Blackhawk to provide updates on various policy issues important to area businesses.

Speakers included Iowa Sens. Chris Cournoyer, R-LeClaire; Roby Smith, R-Davenport; and Jim Lykam, D-Davenport; Iowa Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport; and Illinois Reps. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, and Tony McCombie, R-Savanna.

“To remain competitive, the Quad-Cities must not only grow our population but create an educated and skilled workforce that attracts new businesses and ensures current employers have the talent pool that they need to succeed,” said Rhonda Ludwig, director of government affairs at the Quad Cities Chamber. “Public policy that fully funds education and skilled-training programs and assists employees with finding affordable housing and childcare will build a well-equipped workforce for our region and employers.”

Iowa House Republicans on Thursday voted to approve a 2.5% increase in per-pupil education funding, providing an additional more than $170 million in supplemental aid for local school districts.

That would equate to an additional $186 per student for the upcoming fiscal year, increasing per-pupil aid to $7,413 for each student.

Lawmakers also passed a separate bipartisan school funding bill that would provide $19.2 million for schools to address inflation and a teacher shortage. The money would help school districts cover the costs of employing paraeducators, substitute teachers, bus drivers and administrative and support staff due to worker shortages.

Kurth and Lykam argue that’s not enough when inflation is running at 7.5%, and say the state — which is sitting on a $1 billion surplus, a $2 billion tax relief fund and nearly $1 billion in cash reserves — can afford more.

House Democrats have proposed raising per-pupil funding by 5%, arguing schools had been underfunded for over a decade.

“And I think when we talk about drawing talent to our state … we need to spend more time taking care of our education if we want to bring people back into our state,” Kurth said. “We are falling behind.”

Cournoyer, a former Pleasant Valley school board member who serves as the chair of the Education Appropriations Budget Subcommittee in the Iowa Senate, disputed Kurth’s claim.

She noted more than 54% of the state’s $8 billion budget goes toward education and argues lawmakers have increased education funding by more than $1 billion over the last decade.

Davenport parent Holly Green, who attended Friday’s forum, echoed Kurth that a 2.5%-increase is not enough.

Green said she wished Republican state lawmakers would “spend their time, energy and money in Iowa on doing things that would help K-12 schools,” rather than advancing bills focused on restricting books, material and curriculum schools or educators distribute that parents deem obscene.

Green, a mother of five, said her oldest is studying to be a teacher.

“Teachers are doing amazing work in our schools across the state,” Cournoyer said to a question from Green about whether lawmakers will support demoralized and burnout teachers, “instead of maybe making their life a little harder.”

“The books that are being discussed have content in them that are extremely sexually explicit,” Cournoyer said. “We’re not talking about banning ‘Tom Sawyer’ of ‘Huck Finn’ or ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ We’re talking about books that contain explicit sexual content … and don’t see how it’s relevant or appropriate for K-12 public school libraries.”

Cournoyer also stressed her support for increased funding for Iowa’s community colleges and incentivizing school-based apprenticeships, “where businesses are going in and participating in these STEM and CTE programs and really creating those pipelines into these good-paying jobs.”

Lykam as well said he is focused on supporting apprenticeship programs, as well expanding childcare assistance.

Green, after the meeting, said she wished Iowa lawmakers would give a portion of the state’s budget surplus “back to the schools, which are in desperate need at this time.”

Instead, Iowa Senate Republicans plan to use the state’s taxpayer trust fund to provide tax relief to Iowa families and businesses, Smith said.

Republican proposals would phase in a flat personal income tax of 3.6% to 4% for all income brackets, cut corporate taxes and eliminate taxes on retirement income.

“We’re going to look to give some of the money back to the hardworking taxpayers of Iowa that will retain people here,” he said. “That will attract people here. We’re going to get rid of the tax on pensions so that we keep retirees here in Iowa.”

The varying proposal by House and Senate Republicans would save taxpayers — and thus reduce state revenue — anywhere from $1.7 billion to $2 billion.

Ludwig said the chamber is “inclined to be supportive of a reduction in corporate rates,” but questioned how lawmakers propose to account for lost revenue.

Smith said Republicans would pay for tax cuts using state cash reserves and projected economic growth.

“We also going to fund education like we have, health care like we have and also public safety like we have,” Smith said. “And so I’m confident we will do that.”

Lykam argued Senate Republican’s tax reform plans would primarily benefit high-income earners and may not be sustainable.

“I am all for tax cuts, but I’m also for if those tax cuts are coming down to the middle-class — my constituents,” he said. “If you don’t have that income, then you’re going to have to raise fees on services elsewhere in the budget.”

Democrats instead have proposed increasing the child and dependent care tax credit for working Iowans. They say doing so would reduce the amount people owe in taxes and, in some instances, generate annual tax refunds, effectively cutting taxes for low- and middle-income Iowans.

Halpin and McCombie were asked how they would address rising unemployment insurance costs.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed state budget did not include money to pay down the $4.5 billion the state borrowed from the federal government to keep its unemployment insurance trust fund afloat during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor’s office has said negotiations with lawmakers and labor and businesses leaders are ongoing, including using much of about $3.5 billion in remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to pay down the deficit.

McCombie warned that if the state doesn’t take action to pay down the deficit, it could lead to massive unemployment insurance rate hikes on businesses and cuts to benefits for those claiming unemployment.

Halpin said he supports putting much of the state’s $1.7 billion surplus into the unemployment trust fund, “so that cost does not translate into increased cost for business or decrease in benefits for our unemployed workers.”

McCombie added: “It’s extremely important we pay that back. Otherwise, it’s going to cost Illinoians more” either through higher tax rates or reduced benefits.

— Erin Murphy of the Cedar Rapids Gazette contributed reporting to this article

PEORIA – There have always been complaints about school lunch, but the voices have gotten louder lately.

More than 100 parents recently shared on Facebook with the Journal Star thoughts they and their kids had about lunches in districts across central Illinois. Complaints were not only about taste, but also about food quality and freshness. Many said their children begged for a sack lunch to avoid eating the hot lunch.

One state lawmaker from Peoria has introduced a bill, HB 4813, to help boost the quality of what’s being served in school lunches.

Goodbye, traditional calendar: Peoria school district shortens summer break for 2023

‘She’ll come home hungry’

Lacey Nelton didn’t take her 12-year-old daughter seriously when she first started asking to pack a sack lunch for the noontime meal at Washington Gifted Middle School in Peoria. Then Nelton started hearing others make similar complaints.

“I started seeing photos and I heard from some people in the district that a lot of the lunches aren’t very good,” said Nelton. “So I started to let her take a cold lunch. Some mornings, though, we’re in a rush, so she may not take one, and those are the days that, a lot of times, she’ll come home hungry.”

Packing lunch isn’t a big deal to Nelton, but she realizes it might be more difficult for other families.

“My concern is for the kids with families who maybe can’t afford that and rely on those lunches,” said Nelton.

Illinois forces ‘a race to the bottom,’ says lawmaker

In Peoria Public Schools, a majority of the students rely on the free and reduced-cost meal program for both breakfast and lunch. Child hunger is a problem so prevalent in the district that feeding students was a priority even when they weren’t in school during the pandemic. Ironically, it’s that high level of need that may be contributing to the low quality of meals being served in the district, said Illinois state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth.

“School districts heavily reliant on free and reduced lunches are forced, as a construct of the school procurement code, to always go with the lowest bidder,” said Gordon-Booth. “We are telling individuals who want to bid for the school lunch contract that the only way that you have the ability to win is that it must be the lowest price. … It is inherently a race to the bottom.”

Forty-eight other states do not enforce this rule, said Gordon-Booth. The National School Lunch Program, a federal program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, does not require schools to take the lowest bid. In Illinois, the rule is written into the state procurement code.

Being forced to accept the lowest bid constrains school districts from selecting the best-qualified contractors to meet the nutritional needs of students, said Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, superintendent of Peoria Public Schools.

“The flexibility that would come with the adoption of this proposed act stands to benefit school districts because they will be empowered to choose vendors who provide better services and quality," said Desmoulin-Kherat. “The act will also make it possible for students to be fed wholesome, local, fresh and tasty food from vendors that may not necessarily be the lowest bidders."

More in education: After judge’s order blocks school mask rules, here’s what Peoria-area districts are doing

Gordon-Booth doesn’t know why Illinois created the rule, but learning about it prompted her to write legislation to change state procurement code, eliminating the requirement to accept the lowest bid. She introduced initial legislation in 2019 with the intent to push it forward in 2020, but it got waylaid by the pandemic. HB 4813 was finally filed in the House at the end of January and already has three co-sponsors. Gordon-Booth is asking for public support and said the bill is already popular.

“The support that we have for this bill is unbelievable. It is across the state, it is in communities that I didn’t even realize are dealing with this as an issue,” she said.

In districts not required to choose the lowest bidder, the process of selecting a food supplier can be something even students can participate in, said Gordon-Booth.

“The different companies that may want the business of that school district, they will come in and they will provide the lunches for a full week. You’ll have company A, company B, company C, and they will try to earn the business not just of the school, the administration, but the business of the students,” she said. “This is what I’m seeing happening in some of the suburban communities … but it seems like something that’s so far from reach from us. But why is that? School districts are literally spending millions of dollars on lunches, but we’re forced to take whatever is given because it is free? No.”

Leslie Renken can be reached at 309-370-5087 or lrenken@pjstar.com. Follow her on Facebook.com/leslie.renken.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: New legislation in Illinois underway to improve school lunches