House Journal: Page 62: Tuesday, January 12, 1999

	Then why don't we pay the good teachers what they are worth - every bit as much 

as a good doctor or lawyer or successful business person?  Iowa should lead the nation 
in rejecting the seniority mentality in education and pay good teachers more, and pay 
great teachers more yet.
We also must recreate our schools.  Why do we have only 180 days of school, when 
our international competitors have as many as 240?  Why do we halt the education of 
our youngsters for three months every year, when they need it the most?
Iowa will never have mountains or oceans; our weather will always be fickle.  But 
our schools are our creatures, subject to our control.  Our constitution recognizes our 
unique commitment to the common school as the ticket to opportunity for our citizens.
Finally, our challenge to change must address our tax structure.  Our current 
system is as archaic as it is complicated.  Our property and income taxes are too high 
and almost indecipherable.  Our income tax structure tells prospective business 
executives that their taxes will be about double what they really are.  
Yet, even after two income tax cuts, our rates still place us among the top 10 in the 
country.  Our property tax system looks like something devised by Rube Goldberg, 
layered with bygone eras of property tax fixes and hidden opportunities for tax 
increases.
Taxes can and should be cut.  You can and should do that, and invest in education, 
too.  But taxes must also be reformed.  Reformed by making it harder to raise taxes 
and easier to understand for our citizens.  Your challenge for the future is to reform the 
system, reduce the burden, and make it a tool of growth.
Americans are unique.  We are the only people on this earth who always focus on 
the future and expect better things.  Others yearn for the past.  Our immigrant 
ancestors taught us that the past is but history and better days are ours for the 
making.
There are better days ahead for Iowa.  They are ours for the making.  We are poised 
as never before for an era of growth and opportunity.  We can be a place that more and 
more people want to call home.  But it won't happen without change.  A new 
commitment to growth, a renewed commitment to education and a reformed tax 
structure are all within your grasp.  Seize them and make Iowa a better place for 
generations to come.
With that it is time for me to move on.  I've had my time.  I've done what I could.  It 
is your turn now.
Before I go, I'd like to thank my wife and my family.  They know, all too well, the 
sacrifices involved in public service.  It is time for me to serve them now.
We Iowans are a fortunate people.  We have good, clean, honest, open government.  
We are still a place where you can respect your government and its leaders.  It is that 
abiding trust that will allow you, the assembled members of this Legislature, to do 
great things.
I have tried to conduct myself with similar openness and honesty. I have truly 
worked to earn your trust.

© 1999 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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