Rita Hart on New AEA Staffing Report: “Are you Kidding Me?”
Iowa Democrats respond to Kim Reynolds false claim that ‘nothing has changed’ for Iowa AEAs.
DES MOINES – After Kim Reynolds dismissed concerns about the status of Iowa’s AEA’s saying “nothing has changed”, former Iowa Educator and Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart joined a press conference today to call out Reynolds for misleading Iowans – following a new report that shows there are 429 fewer AEA staff across the state at the start of the school year.
“This is just the beginning of the serious challenges facing our AEAs and public schools particularly in rural districts – and it’s all because Kim Reynolds refuses to listen to educators while playing politics with the state’s obligation to provide a quality education for all its students,” said Chair Rita Hart.
“I worked in rural districts that relied on AEAs to provide necessary services to our teachers and students. To see this kind of drop in staffing support is an obvious concern for students, families and for the future of public education in our state.”