House Journal: Page 39: Tuesday, January 11, 2000
with serious safety issues and significant building needs. We must recognize that some
districts simply can not do it alone.
Today, we propose using $100,000,000 of our $300,000,000 Major Attractions
Millenium Fund to begin addressing safety issues and other building needs. I support
the need to help our urban communities with major attractions to finance them, but
the major attraction of most communities is and should be a safe, well-maintained
school.
We must also recognize that education in the 21st century will not be confined to a
single geographic location. Learning in this century should take place anytime,
anywhere, for anybody. Children learning at an accelerated rate ought to have the
chance to do so at virtual schools or regional academies created through technology.
We fund the beginning of this accelerated learning initiative. Access to well-organized
educational materials should be only a click away. Iowa should lead in the
development of the technology that delivers such information. We propose a $2 million
appropriation to begin the building the technological infrastructure of this 21st century
learning community. Leadership in education requires nothing less.
Along with safer, better schools, Iowans seeking knowledge will experience an
enriched Iowa through better libraries and literate communities. The First Lady has
been a strong advocate for libraries this past year, visiting libraries large and small.
She intends to visit every library in the state, and is well on her way. We need to
continue funding for the Enrich Iowa program and to increase it. Her Stories 2000
initiative will expand on the theme of literate communities. This initiative underscores
the importance of reading and storytelling early in life and throughout life. It
strengthens family and community identity and helps prepare young people to read.
Would an improved quality of life, centering on providing the best education in the
country make a difference, leading to more Iowans, younger Iowans and better paid
Iowans? Consider the story of Brian and Diane Bergstrom and their family, who moved
to Cedar Rapids from Chicago four years ago.
Brian and Diane grew up in the Swedesburg-Olds area. They both have advanced
degrees. Diane received her Master’s degree from UNI, and Brian graduated from
Harvard Law School, after a Fellowship at Cambridge University in England. They
were living and working in downtown Chicago, and started thinking about where their
first son, Austin, now 5 years old, would go to school. They moved back for a better
education for Austin and his new younger brother, Augie, who was born in Iowa. They
wanted to be closer to their families, including Brian’s parents, Melvin and Vicky, who
also are here today. Education was a key reason this couple moved back. Quality
educational opportunities were Iowa’s promise to the Bergstroms. Welcome back to
Iowa, Brian, Diane, and Austin. Please join me in welcoming back home to Iowa the
Bergstroms.
Iowa can seize this moment and become a national leader in education. But we also
have an unparalleled opportunity to be a national leader in health care-specifically,
preventative health care. Our tobacco settlement presents us with a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to do something meaningful and long-lasting. We could, given the tight
general fund, use all of these funds to cave in to the immediate financial pressures and
avoid having to make tough choices, or we could dribble it out in a broad array of tax
cuts, losing forever the opportunity to save health care dollars in the future and make
© 2000 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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