Le Mars Community School Officials Visit With Legislators

Le Mars Community Board of Education Directors, Angela Catton, President Todd Lancaster, and Scott Kommes were recently in Des Moines to visit with Iowa legislators regarding educational issues.  They are with House Representative Dr. Tom Jeneary of Le Mars. (photo contributed.)

(Le Mars) — Several education administration officials from across the state converged on Des Moines earlier this week to lobby state legislators on educational issues. Le Mars Community School Superintendent, Dr. Steve Webner was one of the school officials to make the journey to the state capitol building. Webner says the big issue for Le Mars and many other
school districts across the state is the amount of money to be allocated for the Supplemental State Aid spending. Webner was accompanied by three members of the Le Mars Board of Education, president Todd Lancaster, Scott Kommes, and Angela Catton.

Webner says for many schools, including the Le Mars Community School District, they would like to see a range of between 2.7 to a 3 percent increase for supplemental state aid.

Webner says the legislators gave assurances the education spending bill, with the supplemental state aid should be passed through both chambers by the end of next week.

Another issue of interest to the Le Mars Community, as well as many other school districts is the SAVE bill which is a penny tax allocated for facilities.

The Le Mars Community school superintendent points to the aging elementary buildings of Clark and Franklin as his example.

Webner says another major issue facing schools is identifying students with mental health problems.

Webner says besides visiting with State Representative Tom Jeneary, local school officials also had the opportunity to visit with State Senator Randy Feenstra.