House Journal: Page 6: Monday, January 12, 1998

REMARKS BY THE MINORITY LEADER
Schrader of Marion addressed the House as follows:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen of the House.

I want to welcome you back and extend to you my best wishes for
a thoughtful, cooperative and productive session in 1998.

I am beginning my twelfth session in the Iowa House, and how
things have changed since 1987.  Back then we were still reeling
from the effects of the farm crisis.  It was a time when we
never had the resources to meet our obligations, so we tried
every way imaginable to scrape together funding for Iowa's
priorities.  Many needs went unmet; things we should have done
got set aside until that day in the future when things were
better.

Today, things are better.  The nation's economy is booming and
state revenues are growing.  We have had the good fortune to be
able to cut taxes.  Democrats have worked hard for tax cuts that
benefit working families, and we may well be able to cut taxes
again this year.

But our first priority should be to use our resources to make
sure that Iowa's schools continue to lead the nation.  We've
always had good reason to brag about our schools, traditionally
the best in the nation, but that doesn't mean there aren't real
problems in public schools.  Test scores have slipped; our high
school graduates are no longer number one on college entrance
exams.  Teachers don't have time and resources to give their
students the individual attention they need.

Discipline is increasingly harder to enforce.  Most Iowa
students are good kids, but it only takes a few disruptive and
unruly ones to make learning tough for everyone, and to make the
good kids feel unsafe in the hallways and on the playgrounds.

Many Iowa school buildings need major repairs.  In fact, the
state fire marshal says that ten percent of Iowa schools are
unsafe.

This year, with the financial resources that we have, we should
fix these problems.  We should find the right ratio of students
to teachers that assures that every kid gets a share of a
teacher's undivided attention.  We should put court liaison
officers in schools to handle troubled kids and make sure that
schools are safe places to learn.  And state government can help
prevent a tragedy by helping local districts repair their
schools. 

This should also be the year the Legislature restores local
control over where large hog confinement operations are located.
 Right now hardworking Iowans who have lived all their lives on
the farm have no say if a factory farm moves in next door. 
That's wrong.  Local people should decide where these
mega-operations are located because they know their area best.

That doesn't mean all decisions regarding livestock production
should be local.  Democrats support statewide regulations for
construction, separation distances 

Iowa General Assembly

Index: House Journal (77th General Assembly: Session 2)

© 1998 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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