By: Diana Johnsen
djohnsen@kcautv.com
While visiting Sioux City on Thursday to speak about his "Condition of the State Address", Governor Terry Branstad was questioned on his education reform plan.
In Branstad's plan, Iowa's minimum starting teaching salary would be raised from $28,000 to $35,000 a year.
Student teaching would be extended from one semester to a full year.
And, new teachers would have a reduced workload their first year, so they can spend more time learning from veteran teachers.
But school administrators in Sioux City were left wondering how all of it would be paid for.
"That will take significant funding and time to put all the pieces of it together. So, we really do look to the legislation to what kind of expectations there are for the districts and how we will do that and how that will be funded," said Dr. Paul Gausman, Superintendent of Sioux City School.
Branstad said Iowa's nearly $1 billion dollar surplus is a big help when it comes to covering the $187 million dollar reform plan.
The plan will be implemented over 5 years, which the Governor said gives school districts the flexibility and time to make the changes.
"Change is not easy, and we need to go about this in a way that we can make adjustments as we go along. It's a big long-term investment that I'm confident will give us better achievement for Iowa students and better jobs for our state," said Branstad.
The Governor's plan still needs to be looked by the House and the Senate in the up-coming months.
