2024 Iowa Legislative Session has begun
The Iowa Legislature gaveled into the second session of the 90th General Assembly on Monday, Jan. 8 at the State Capitol in Des Moines. Once again, we are asking you to help us to ensure that a UNI education remains affordable for Iowa students and their families.
- In her budget recommendations for next fiscal year, Gov. Kim Reynolds included a 2.5% increase to UNI’s general operating budget. This would be an increase of $2,485,223. The governor also included the $3,850,000 request for UNI’s Applied Engineering Building, which covers funds that were redirected from the project to make emergency steam tunnel repairs on campus last academic year.
All other recommendations for UNI’s funding remain status quo.
- During its September meeting, the Board of Regents authorized the request of $500,000 for UNI at Iowa Community Colleges (UNI@IACC) and an increase of $2.5 million for the Educators for Iowa scholarship program.
- Additionally, the board approved UNI’s request to ask the legislature for a $5.8 million increase to the general operating budget. Receiving the full amount would allow UNI to keep tuition flat for the 2024-2025 academic year.
With the budget now moving to the legislature, UNI will continue to advocate for its requested funds, emphasizing its importance to providing affordable, high-quality education and training the next generation of Iowa workers who will continue to build a vibrant economy in the state.
In addition to the budget recommendations, legislators have begun to file bills that would impact the University of Northern Iowa and higher education as a whole. One such bill is SSB 3069 which would require K-12 schools and teacher preparation programs to put an emphasis on the science of reading in their instruction. Last week, University of Iowa’s Iowa Reading Research Center presented to both the House and Senate Education policy committee on the research showing the effectiveness of this method. While legislators focus on finding ways to improve test scores for students across Iowa, UNI will partner with them to help accomplish this goal while working to ensure academic freedom and flexibility in instruction is protected.
Every voice makes a difference. We are grateful for your willingness to support and share UNI’s positive impact on Iowa. You can find your local state senator and state representative at this link. Please share your UNI story and ask your state senator and state representative to support our funding requests.