Common Good Iowa

04/07/2026

A bill that would require preschools and kindergartens to offer some time for play-based learning each day has unanimously passed the Iowa House of Representatives, a Senate subcommittee and full committee — but last week it was suddenly pulled from the Senate debate calendar.

Play is often seen as simple fun, but it is one of the most powerful tools for learning and development. Research consistently shows that play-based learning improves young children's attention, motivation and overall academic readiness.

Let's remind our Senators that play is not a break from learning, it is learning. Ask your State Senator to put House File 2652 back on the debate calendar. Find their email address at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find

02/17/2026

ALERT! A bill moving through the Iowa House would deny the basics of good nutrition — including baby formula — to young children and pregnant and postpartum women who can’t document lawful immigrant status. Iowa would join just one other state — Idaho — in barring undocumented families from WIC.

Call or email your lawmaker today (visit https://www.commongoodiowa.org/get-involved/contact-your-legislator to learn how) and tell them that ALL babies, toddlers and new moms need healthy food. Ask them to strip the anti-immigrant WIC provisions from House Study Bill 696.

02/05/2026

Fitting for Groundhog's Day week, a Senate committee advanced a bill yesterday that would do the same thing the Legislature did last year, and the year before that: slowly starve our schools. The legislation they approved falls far below what's needed to keep up with rising costs and meet the needs of Iowa students.

You can't have a serious talk about school funding trends without factoring in inflation. Yes, lawmakers increase SSA almost every year. But in the last decade, those increases have failed to keep up with rising costs.

Read more on Iowa's recent history of inadequate school funding: https://www.commongoodiowa.org/blog/2026/02/05/senate-committee-advances-inadequate-school-funding-proposal-again

01/29/2026

Iowa HHS dropped a bill last week that would eliminate our state’s longstanding early-childhood system, Early Childhood Iowa, and replace it with a centralized structure called the Early Childhood and Family Services system. It would compress what are now 38 ECI areas (overseen by local governing boards) into seven ECFS districts with wildly unbalanced populations. Each district would have an ECFS advisory council, which — regardless of district population — would have ten members appointed by HHS. And, concerningly, it would expand ECI’s distinct focus on children birth to 5 to broader focus on children under 19 "with an emphasis on children under six years of age.”

Read our bill summary here: https://prod.cdn.everyaction.com/emails/van/EA/EA017/1/105938/ChG3diKb9VQbE4b6Kfh-CQA-1PvxDYPKw2JirlNrsoK_archive

01/19/2026

Iowa's historic budget trends are unsustainable after years of tax cuts. If our budgets and revenue grew at historic rates, our surpluses would be gone in just a few years!

But there's a path out of our troubles. Lawmakers should reject austerity — extreme budget cuts leading to a weaker economy, school closures and health care denied — in favor of recapturing the revenue we need to fund services that help all Iowans get ahead and thrive.

There's a lot going on in this graphic, but it's our best take at explaining how we got into this mess. Read our full primer on Iowa's revenue problem here:https://www.commongoodiowa.org/moduledocuments/embed/119/260114_Data_snapshot_Path_forward_i_60BC53FE1CA93.pdf

01/17/2026

Iowa's new House Majority Leader this week called for increasing legislators' pay base, which has been $25,000 since 2007.

That might make sense, writes CGI policy analyst Sean Finn. But only if accompanied by an increase to Iowa's minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2008.

"Kaufmann makes a solid point that low pay for legislators makes it hard for non-wealthy, working-age Iowans to serve.

"But somehow, that logic only extends as far as the State Capitol grounds."

Iowa House Majority Leader Bobby Kaufmann is calling for an increase in legislators’ base salaries to $35,000. The same proposal failed to make it to the Governor’s desk in 2024. Legislators’ current pay of $25,000 went into effect in 2007 and hasn't been adjusted for inflation or the rising...

01/02/2026

Tonight at 7:30 on Iowa Press, Mike Owen gives CGI’s perspective on Iowa’s severe budget challenges driven by rampant tax cuts. Surpluses have hidden the certain damage to education, health care and public safety, but those surpluses are quickly vanishing and so is the cover they’ve given the Governor and Legislature. Be aware as the 2026 legislative session is about to begin.

See the program on Iowa PBS at 7:30 Friday, or online now.

Ben Murrey, director of policy and research for Common Sense Institute Iowa, and Mike Owen, senior associate at Common Good Iowa discuss the state budget and other fiscal issues.

12/05/2025

Iowa has put its tax code on autopilot with the federal code. That means when Congress adopts changes to benefit the rich, Iowa does, too. The Trump tax cuts are costing state services — education, public safety, health care — over $400 million this year. That contributes to the structural deficit already created by state-passed tax cuts. Reckless choices by the Governor and her legislative allies.

12/03/2025

Vouchers leave out students in the majority of the state, because private schools aren't available statewide. In 42 of the 99 counties there is no accredited private school, and in 19 more there is only one. Vouchers divert about $8,000 per student -- over $300 million -- from public schools and other public priorities, just to subsidize tuition for families who for the most part can already afford it. Meanwhile, the state budget is beginning an era of chronic shortfalls. Iowa cannot afford the unaccountable voucher giveaway.

11/28/2025

A common theme in Iowa tax cuts for nearly 30 years has been to take care of the wealthiest first, and tell everyone they’re getting a break. This chart is from the last round. And there’s more to come. Iowans can make their elected officials do better, but they have to demand it.