by Brooklyn Draisey, Iowa Capital Dispatch
April 30, 2026
Both chambers of the Iowa Legislature have approved education appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2027, with Democrats decrying what they called straying priorities and a lack of will to fully support Iowa’s students.
House File 2783, as amended in the House to reflect agreement with the Senate, would allocate more than $1 billion to Iowa’s education systems, representing a 1% increase in the budget but keeping funding for the Iowa Board of Regents and Iowa Tuition Grant program flat for the upcoming fiscal year.
Sen. Mike Zimmer, D-DeWitt, thanked his predecessors for investing in public education when he was in high school, as it was the only reason he was able to go to college. He’s paid that investment back several times over, he said, through living, working and raising a family here.
“We didn’t view this as an expense, we viewed it as an economic development to keep people in Iowa,” Zimmer said. “And when I look at the funding that’s in here now, it’s certainly not indicative of looking at Iowans as an investment, it looks at, more as, Iowans as an expense.”
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Rep. Dan Gehlbach, R-Urbandale, said changes to this year’s budget from the past include an increase of $76,000 to school food service, a 2% increase to funding for the Iowa School for the Deaf and Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired to match State Supplemental Aid increases, a 1.4% increase in funding for Iowa community colleges and a nearly $100,000 increase for the Teach Iowa Scholars program.
A physical expansion fund for community colleges and apprenticeship programs passed earlier in the session is also allocated $3.5 million in the legislation. Other appropriations include a $5 million increase to the special education division of the Iowa Department of Education, $335,000 for teachers to use in training for teaching students with dyslexia and $500,000 for school district email security.
Duplicate training previously included in the education appropriations bill have been removed, Gehlbach said, and funds from the state’s for-profit tuition grant are being moved to the vocational-technical tuition grant program.
Democrats in the House filed multiple amendments to include funding for mental health at Iowa’s public universities and research on cancer drivers in the state, as well as create a work group to review school district weighing and require annual reporting on school vouchers, all of which failed to pass.
In addition to the failed amendment to reinstate $1 million in funding to the University of Iowa for research into Iowa’s cancer rates and factors impacting them, Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, said during debate that a line item allocating $3 million to the UI for pediatric cancer research was removed from the bill through Gehlbach’s approved strike-through amendment.
While Srinivas, and Gehlbach in his response, mentioned the House passed legislation that would appropriate as much as $3 million to pediatric cancer research, a Senate subcommittee on the bill was only assigned April 29.
“I’m devastated to see that the good work we have done was completely undone with that vote, and I’m extremely disappointed that that was a priority that you put forth in this education bill today, defunding cancer care and research,” Srinivas said.
Rep. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City, said she’s “not thrilled” with the proposed education budget, and there are a number of line items that are “missing the mark” despite the agreement both chambers have found with the legislation.
Flat funding to the board of regents and “lackluster” increases to community colleges and education for the blind or deaf don’t show pride from the Legislature to support its state’s education needs, Levin said, but rather a resignation that these areas must be funded so “the bare minimum” is acceptable.
“I think there’s a great deal that we could have done. I think we could honor the requests of our departments and make sure that they are made whole,” Levin said. “Instead, we have this budget before us because these are the agreed-upon numbers. I understand this budget, I don’t particularly respect it and I don’t support it.”
Rep. Heather Matson agreed, saying she doesn’t believe the education budget is an “accurate reflection of how to operate and fund education at all levels in Iowa,” mentioning a lack of action taken on requests for $2.5 million in funding for therapeutic classrooms and $10 million for high-needs schools.
Funding for higher education in Iowa has fallen further and further behind over the years, said Sens. Cindy Winckler and Herman Quirmbach, leading to nearly two-thirds of university budgets being funded by tuition and state allocations falling $165 million behind inflation.
“The state has been walking away from its obligation, walking away from its commitment to higher education, walking away, in other words, from the future of our students and their contribution to the workforce,” Quirmbach said.
Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, and Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner took issue during debate with a line item that saw $1 million in continuing funding under the proposed budget — the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa.
The $1 million going to the center could be shifted to instead fund mental health services at universities, Weiner said, as then it would actually support students in Iowa and mitigate the brain drain happening in the state where students move away after receiving their education.
Sen. Jesse Green, R-Harcourt, said in his closing comments on the bill that the budget passed by the chambers Thursday is a reflection of what he could do with the dollars he had and the priorities that constituents shared with him.
While people reached out about funding for K-12 school initiatives, cybersecurity, the Teach Iowa Scholars program and community colleges, Green said no one advocated for additional board of regents or university funding.
Gehlbach said the board of regents is working on its own to identify cost savings and areas of efficiency through its revenue enhancement efficiency study, and he and other lawmakers want to ensure Iowa taxpayers see a return on investment through education that prepares students for the workforce.
“Every dollar we save through efficiency is $1 we don’t have to ask from our students and Iowa taxpayers,” Gehlbach said. “And so it’s … really about prioritization.”
The bill passed with a 58-27 vote in the House and a 27-15 vote in the Senate.
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Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
