The message from Gov. Reynolds and the GOP: Transparency is for suckers

KATHIE OBRADOVICH Iowa Captial Dispatch

Editor’s note: This article is from Iowa Capitol Dispatch from Jan 23, 2023

Transparency is for suckers. That’s the message, loud and clear, from Gov. Kim Reynolds and her Republican enablers in the Legislature.

I’d suspect that this was another, particularly idiotic manifestation of the trans-phobia that has infected Republican officeholders the past few years. But no, Reynolds and GOP lawmakers are insisting on “transparency” through various priority bills in the Legislature while keeping the public in the dark. Everybody loves transparency

– as long as it required of other people.

Reynolds’ recent interview with Amanda Rooker of KCCI-TV made that abundantly clear. Rooker asked Reynolds about the so-called “transparency” measures she is proposing for public schools. These may include ideas proposed in the past, like requiring teachers to post their lesson plans online or school libraries posting every title on their shelves.

Rooker asked if Reynolds would also seek to impose those rules on private schools that receive taxpayer funds from her education savings account proposal.

Reynolds stammered.

“Well, you know they’re held to — you know, most of this would deal with public schools, would public schools right now. So you know, they – it would just be public schools.”

That last phrase is the actual answer. Only public schools would have to post course details and library titles and whatever else the governor and GOP lawmakers can think of to demand from public schools.

Why not private schools?

If we’re going to dedicate hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to give parents a “choice” on where to send their kids, shouldn’t that be an informed choice?

Reynolds says parents can figure that out for themselves.

“But again, it’s the parent that’s going to be making that decision. So if they feel that the school doesn’t meet their expectations, or what they’re looking for, then they’re not going to transfer their child there,” she said. “So I’m going to trust parents to do the research, to, you know, to make the decision of what environment is best for their children.”

Speaking of those taxpayer dollars that will be going to possibly secretive private schools, Reynolds said she is planning to hire a private company to handle the transfer of state money to parents and oversee how that money is spent. Lawmakers will not be informed about how that would be done and what company would be in charge until after the legislation has passed.

And speaking of taxpay- er money, House Speaker Pat Grassley told reporters last week that the House doesn’t need to send the school scholarship bill through the Appropriations Committee to examine the spending. Why not? Because House Republicans have talked about the cost. Among themselves. In secret.

“I will tell you that, I probably talk so much about appropriations matters in caucus, I probably drive them nuts how much time we do spend on that,” Grassley said. “We take this very seriously, whenever we look at any sort of investment like this, and there has been significant time not only since we got to session, but leading up to session on what potential proposals would look like. So it’s not like we just started yesterday having that conversation.”

Dome Donation

continued from page 1 or whenever we meet our dollar goal,” Hillery Oberle said, assistant vice president for strategy communications in University Advancement.

“In my several trips back here in the last several years, it has just become more and more evident that the Dome, even though it’s a phenomenal facility and still is today, needs a facelift. It’s at that point in time where it just needs some support,” Baumler said.

Over $10.7 million of the Dome renovation project has been funded so far, which amounts to about 20% of the $50 million goal. Some project highlights will include new seating and suites, wider concourses, new lighting and sound systems, a new indoor track and greater accessibility.

Fundraising for the UNIDome renovations is part of the Our Tomorrow campaign, which has a goal of $250 million by 2026. The fundraising period began in 2018, and the money will be used to enhance the campaign’s four pillars: Student Access and Success, Engaged Learning, Academic Programs and Faculty and Iconic Places.

As Oberle explained, a fundraising campaign relies on both large gifts from donors like Baumler and high participation rates. The campaign has a goal of reaching 30,000 unique donors, and it has currently received donations from over 25,000 different donors.

“Whenever I talk about that [number], it really warms my heart. It’s a point of pride because I always think about, okay, that’s more than 25,000 votes of confidence about UNI and what we’re doing here and supporting our students,” Oberle said.

Aside from connecting with a wide audience of alumni and friends of the university, donations come in a variety of different forms. Currently, 25% of the donations to the Our Tomorrow campaign have been “planned gifts,” meaning the money has been written to UNI in an individual’s estate. Those donations are still counted in the total money raised, although the money will not be readily available until the individual passes away.

Many donations also take the form of endowment funds, in which the donated money is invested by the university, and the interest earned is then used to fund specific scholarships or programs.

Other donations come in the form of pledges made over a period of years or upfront donations that are available immediately.

While the Our Tomorrow campaign still has ground to cover before reaching their fundraising goal, UNI students have already begun to see the effects of the donations around campus.

The new $43.9 million Applied Engineering Building broke ground in June, 2022, which was partly funded by donors as part of the campaign.

So far the Our Tomorrow campaign has completed over 78% of the fundraising goal, having received $195.8 million from donors.

“We are 57% of the way through the campaign time period. So we started in 2018, and the goal is to end in 2026

“One big thing to understand is just where are all those dollars going and to know that it’s not only for short term benefit to the campus community, but also for the longer term stability and viability of campus,” Oberle said.

In addition, fundraising for the $14.9 million Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center renovation is over 85% complete. The project is expected to break ground this spring, with the new seating in the Great Hall to be installed this summer.

Another major capital project is the $2.2 million renovation to the Campanile and Campanile Plaza. It is currently expected that the new and refurbished bells will be returned to the Campanile in early May, with further renovations of the surrounding area to take place in the coming years.

As far as benefiting students on an individual level, over 1,900 students received scholarships from private sources in 2022, with the dollar amount totaling $6.6 million. An additional $10 million was delegated to directly supporting campus services, such as study abroad funds, undergraduate research, and bringing guest speakers and support staff.

So far, 365 new scholarship funds and 210 new endowment funds have been created in the Our Tomorrow campaign.

Amidst all of the moving parts of a $250 million campaign, connecting with donors like Baumler brings Oberle fulfillment.

“One of the things that is a real joy in the work that the [UNI] Foundation does is that we get to work with those donors, and when you get to hear them talk about how much this institution means to them and why they’re making a gift, we’re the ones who get to hear that,” she said.

“We can do big things like this because of the passion that people have for this institution. When you’re part of the Panther family, you have a lot of dedicated individuals that really step up and are helping us make this a success.”

More information about donating to the Our Tomorrow campaign can be found at ourtomorrow.uni.edu.

Transparency

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None of those conversations were in public, however. Neither the governor nor legislators discussed details of the current, vastly expanded, scholarship plan during the campaign. Republican and Democratic “caucus” meetings are held behind closed doors.

The Senate did hold an appropriations committee meeting last week, but decided to push forward with the bill without a nonpartisan fiscal analysis. The chambers could send the bill to the governor’s desk as early as this week, without giving Iowans time to absorb the details.

Then, they’ll move on to talking about transparency for public school teachers, tax assessors, universities and all those other suckers.

NIXSON BENITEZ Executive Editor