On Learning

How do you know what you know? Who taught you?

I’ve been reflecting with gratitude on the teachers and institutions who have helped me learn my whole life. Mrs. Mueller and Mr. Quiram, Mrs. Gess and Mr. Decker, Mrs. Tohal and Mr. Dickinson, Professors Langerak, May, Groton, Hill, Saterstrom, Bauer, Lindner, Culp, Otten, Mitchell, and so many more. The congregations of All Saints’ Episcopal in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago, Hyde Park Union (Hyde Park, Chicago), Immanuel UCC (Latimer, Iowa), and Plymouth UCC (Des Moines, Iowa). And now the folks at Still Harbor, Nathan and Marchaé. All have taught me so much, supported me, challenged me, held me accountable, and helped me to grow.

One of the things I note as I reflect on these people and institutions of learning—some public (pre-k through grade 12), some private (undergrad through graduate work and beyond)—is that I have never learned in a vacuum. My social media feeds me information that equates to preaching to the choir. Unlike institutionally supported learning, it doesn’t challenge me to expand my frame of reference, my knowledge base, or my empathy.

If you don’t live in Iowa, you might wonder why I’ve taken up learning as my subject this week. Why I’m lifting the names of teachers and institutions (both past and present) as a prayer for my state. There is some very troubling legislation that is being rushed through the Iowa State House at the beginning of this year’s session that it’s important to speak to. I feel this as a citizen, a lifelong learner, and soon-to-be parent of a child I hope will get the benefit of an excellent public education as I did.

The issue is this: a Republican super-majority is fast-tracking a plan that would make possible a publicly funded Education Savings Account (ESA) for every Iowa student, K-12. Basically, creating a voucher system that allows up to $7,600 annually per student of tax-payer money to go into an ESA that can be used toward private school tuition. Publicly funded scholarships for private schools. Early estimates suggest this could cost upwards of $1 billion in the first three years of the program. And that is before income caps are removed that allow even those who need no assistance to send their children to private schools to pad their pockets with this entitlement.

I have heard ESA advocates say that the government should be funding children, not institutions. But for anyone who has ever learned anything anywhere, it seems willfully ignorant to act as though you can fund the learning and education of a child without supporting an institution. Education is a community effort. Especially when it comes to supporting the learning of our most vulnerable and those whom private schools can and do reject because they have no legal obligation (as do public schools) to educate all children.

As this legislation is raced to the floor, I have been thinking about and praying for the public-school teachers I ate lunch with each week as a pastor in rural northern Iowa. I can hear their dedication to their students, their understanding that their school was and is the lifeblood of their community, their struggle with unfunded mandates, and their frustration and heartache working to integrate students with profound disabilities and special needs whom private schools were able to reject and under no obligation to serve.

I think about and pray for the LGBTQIA+ students and teachers private and religious schools are free to reject or fire.

I think about and pray for the families whose income or distance from any but their local public school doesn’t give them a choice.

And I think of the speed and force with which Governor Reynolds and her acolytes in the House and Senate are pushing this legislation forward after failing to gain enough support among a Republican majority two years in a row. The rejection of which is one of the few recent actions of Iowa’s state legislature that has been truly bipartisan. Some of the tactics the governor and her cronies have used? Running primary opponents to Republican holdouts in rural areas. Creating a new Education Reform Committee to circumvent the House Education Committee that had blocked the bill from getting to the floor in the past. Changing the House rules so a bill that will spend nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money in the first three years will not have to go through the House Appropriations Committee. Limiting public comment. If this new “choice” is going to be so good for Iowa, why the fighting her own party and the rush and the change the rules and the limited ability for feedback?

One thing I’ve learned through a vocational life committed to service in religious institutions is that your service is in vain if you’re not listening to the needs and concerns of the community you serve.

When, for years, Iowans have been clamoring for some of the surplus funds in the budget to be used to help fully fund our hurting public education system, it seems strange that the legislation put forth is instead to use public money to further erode a public good that, no matter what, will continue to be necessary for the good of our communities.

Iowa’s public schools used to be something of a crown jewel for the state. I grew up in Minnesota and, even though our schools were excellent, I remember a college classmate (also a Minnesotan) saying, “If I ever have kids, I want to raise them in Iowa. Our classmates from Iowa? Wow did they receive a good education!”

Whether or not you’re an Iowan, lift up a prayer of thanksgiving for a teacher in your life today. Send a note or a gift of appreciation. The last three years have been especially tumultuous for educators, and it wasn’t easy before that. And if you are an Iowan, in addition to your prayers, let the legislature hear your voice. Not just your own representatives, but all the Republican members of the House. Their decisions this session will impact us all and the future of our state.

Much love and a lifetime of learning,

Lindsey