Meeting Public Comments

Margaret Buckton [Urban Education Network]

See uploaded file for Issue Brief describing Diversity plans, the positive impact of diversity on student outcomes and the trends of poverty in Iowa's urban districts with and without diversity plans. UEN is opposed to the bill.

Jane Lindaman [Waterloo Schools]

As the superintendent of Waterloo schools, on behalf of our district and community, I urge you to vote against HSB64, which removes our ability to implement voluntary diversity plans. Diversity plans DO NOT eliminate OE out; they simply balance open enrollment out to prevent white flight. Removing a districts ability to have a voluntary diversity (desegregation) plan will negatively impact our community, demographically, educationally and fiscally.Each year, Waterloo Schools offers voluntary transfers within our district to ensure students have choice in which schools to attend. We know from analyzing open enrollment out requests that they are skewed toward Caucasian students with high SES status. If you overturn our ability to balance open enrollment requests, we will become less diverse, with higher poverty percentages and higher minority percentages. We are on a fasttrack to improved results. Our graduation rate has risen from 70% to 84%. We have had the highest growth in early literacy of any urban district in the state of Iowa. We have launched the Waterloo Career Center that is drawing students from seven different districts, with increasing enrollment of over a thousand students this year. Do not move forward with this legislation that will cause us to suffer such a blow to our improvement efforts, especially during such challenging times. We fervently ask you to vote no on any legislation that prohibits our ability to use diversity plans to balance open enrollment requests in and out and prevent white flight. Voting no ensures we can continue to offer realworld demographics and realworld experiences in Waterloo schools.

Connie Ryan [lnterfaith Alliance of Iowa]

Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund is strongly opposed to this legislation, as we have been every year it has been introduced. HSB64 will eliminate the voluntary diversity plans under the states open enrollment law for the five districts that opted into the plan several years ago (Des Moines, Waterloo, Davenport, Postville, and Burlington). The result for the urban districts in particular would be white flight, larger pockets of poverty, and segregated schools in those districts. The argument for the bill is parental choice, regardless of the harm to students remaining in those districts. Parental choice already exists in many other forms. This bill does not respect local control by the five districts and would prohibit the local leaders from making the best decisions for all of the students in the districts. We urge legislators to vote No on HSB64.

Jim Waterbury [Citizen of Waterloo]

I graduated from Waterloo Schools in 1965. Never in all the years since have the Waterloo Schools produced such solid opportunity and results for all students than they are doing now with the current diversity plan. There is no reason to cripple a plan that is working and producing talented, engaged graduates who want to remain in Iowa, hold down good jobs, raise families and pay taxes. Iowa employers are crying for more young employees, and our state needs every productive resident we can attract and retain. I urge you to vote against HSB64.

Diego Giraldo [West Liberty School District]

The West Liberty Community School District would support keeping the Diversity Plan in place because the District believes that diversity of all kinds strengthens educational effectiveness.The primary purpose of the plan is to promote diversity and avoid minority student isolation. We define minority student as the student coming from household of low socioeconomic (i.e. qualifies for free or reducedprice meals), a student who qualifies as an English Language Learner, or a student from a household with a home language other than English. Although they might represent a majority of students enrolled in our school district, students whose home language is not English are a minority in our country, as are students of low socioeconomic status.. Our community population is somewhat transient; our enrollment snapshot shows a large percentage of our students qualifies for free or reducedprice meals, and a large percentage lists a home language other than English. To complicate matters, some parents speak Spanish as their sole language, and some are unable to read or write any language. This means that many of our nonEnglish language students have not had experience with written resources of any language in their homes, therefore they are coming to preschool and other grades neither ready in their native language nor in English. Continuing with the diversity plan will allow the continuation of our very successful and acclaim dual language program. A program that provides learning opportunities to our native English and Nonnative English speakers grades K12. The number of low socioeconomic students, as well as the number of students who list a language other than English as their home language, has been growing whereas our Englishonly population has declined. All of these factors combine to complicate the issues of diversity in our school system. Ending the plan will be detrimental for our district enrollment and we will lose a large number of our Caucasian population and most significantly a detrimental impact to our students learning experiences. The district supports keeping the diversity plan in place.

Jerry Kivett []

I write to ask that you keep school diversity plans in place. Our current divisions show they are needed. To do away with them would show we are comfortable with our prejudices. I cannot support that kind of will ignorance

Carole Yates [NAACP Black hawk countu]

Diversity plans for public schools add strength for a community economically, socially, and provide a better worldview and education for all students and their parents. School districts need this opportunity to promote the best about their districts and their communities. I urge all legislators to vote against HSB 64.

LaTanya Graves [NAACP]

We have seen such an increase in the need to keep these plans in place now more than ever with the current climate. We understand students learn at different levels however, there is no need to do away with a plan that works and benefits all households, especially those with lower incomes. Support public education so all students have the opportunity to be successful. They are our future.