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It’s a sure sign that summer is coming to an end when students,
parents and teachers prepare to head back to school.
This is the first year in a quarter of a century that we
don’t have a student in our family.
Our younger daughter, Sara, graduated from Mankato State
in the spring. Her student days are
over, but she’s still heading back to school.
In fact, we just helped her pack up for her move to Charleston,
Illinois, where she’ll be director of Forensics for the Department of
Communication Studies at Eastern Illinois University.
I’m proud that my daughter has decided to teach because
it’ll give her the chance to make a positive impact on the lives of young
people, just as so many educators are doing for the kids in our
community. Wonderful local
teachers—like Linda Nelson at Carter Lake Elementary, who served two terms as
president of the Iowa State Education Association—have dedicated their lives
to making sure our kids get the skills they need to succeed.
Support for our local schools is a top priority of the
people in our Senate district, and it’s an issue I’ve worked on at the Iowa
Statehouse. Our recent efforts are
improving student achievement by keeping the best teachers in Iowa classrooms, increasing accountability, and making
quality preschool accessible to all Iowa
kids.
I’m looking forward to seeing these successes firsthand
when I visit local classrooms as part of America's Legislators Back to
School Program.
This national effort, sponsored by the nonpartisan National
Conference of State Legislatures, teaches young people what it's like to be a
legislator. Every year, more than 1,400 state
lawmakers visit an estimated 320,000 students in their classrooms, bringing
civics to life for our young Americans and encouraging them to play an active
role in their government.
It also gives me the opportunity to meet personally with
young constituents, answer questions, share ideas and listen to concerns.
I’m setting up my visits for the upcoming school year and am
interested in visiting elementary, junior high and high school classrooms. If you’d like me to come to your school,
call me at 515-281-3901 or e-mail me at mike.gronstal@legis.state.ia.us.
Every legislator wants to keep their promises, but only
those that pay close attention to the budget have a good chance of
succeeding.
That’s why I’ve pushed the Legislature to adopt solid
budgeting practices in the last few years.
These reforms are now helping us keep our promises to Iowa’s students,
families and communities despite the current nationwide economic
slowdown.
The fact that we are now making better budget decisions is
one reason Iowa’s
economy is much stronger than the nation’s as a whole. The state budget is balanced, obeys the
state’s expenditure-limitation law, and fully funds our emergency savings
accounts.
According to the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency, Iowa’s
rainy day funds will grow to $620.3 million in the next year, the largest
amount ever in the state’s savings account. At the same time, we’ve repaid nearly all
of the funds that earlier Legislatures had borrowed.
Our strong state budget means we can re-allocate funds for
flood and tornado recovery while keeping promises to improve student
achievement and teacher quality, create good-paying jobs, make health care
more accessible, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
By making tough budget decisions, we have improved Iowa’s financial
standing, are honoring our commitments to Iowans, and continue to make our
state a better place to live, work and raise a family.
Council Bluffs’ River’s Edge Park was
recently awarded $256,000 through the Iowa Great Places initiative to help
pay for a ramp that provides an accessible path from the new pedestrian
bridge over the Missouri River to the park.
Iowa Great Places combines state government resources with
local assets to help Iowans make their neighborhoods, communities and regions
better places to live, work and raise a family. Funding for the grants was approved by the
Legislature and awarded through a competitive application process. Learn more at www.iowagreatplaces.gov.
The Iowa Arts Council has received a $100,000 grant from
the National Endowment for the Arts for Iowa artists and arts organizations
recovering from storm damage.
Some of the dollars will go to the 2008 Emergency Arts
Relief program, which provides up to $500 for immediate recovery needs.
Others will be used for larger grants and stipends generally ranging from
$3,000 - $6,000.
Disaster-affected Iowa
artists and Iowa
arts organizations that are nonprofit, federally tax-exempt, and located in a
state- or federally-declared disaster area are eligible to apply. Complete information and applications are available
at www.iowaartscouncil.org.
Working with Iowa
young people can be a great win-win opportunity for local businesses. The Iowa Student Internship Program is now
accepting applications from local businesses interested in providing
internships to Iowa
college students.
Companies are eligible to apply for up to three internships,
which are worth $3,100 each. The program is available to Iowa-based companies
that:
- Have
fewer than 500 employees, with a significant portion employed within Iowa in
biosciences, advanced manufacturing or information technology.
- Offer
internships to students of Iowa
community colleges, private colleges, or regent institutions within two
years of graduation.
- Create
a substantive working experience for interns in research and
development, engineering, process management and production, product
experimentation and analysis, product development, market research,
business planning and administration.
For more information, visit www.iowalifechanging.com/business/innov&comm.html
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