Senate Journal: Page 32: Tuesday, January 11, 2000

  states that fails to provide any direct assistance to districts for building
  maintenance,
  repair or construction.  Our state ought to provide resources to school
  districts faced
  with serious safety issues and significant building needs.  We must
  recognize that
  some districts simply cannot do it alone.

  Today, we propose using $100,000,000 of our $300,000,000 major attractions
  millennium 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 five 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

© 2000 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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