Governor Chet Culver spoke Wednesday morning to about two dozen
members of the Iowa State Education Association. The topic of the
local option sales tax came up during Culver's discussion with the
group. Culver indicated he was "open" to using the sales tax revenue
on teacher salaries and he urged the ISEA members to contact their
legislators and lobby on the issue. Local option sales taxes are
currently reserved for school infrastructure projects. Voters in each
of Iowa's 99 counties have approved a local option sales tax for
schools, but for a duration of 10 years. Legislators are mulling a
bill which would make permanent the penny sales tax -- statewide --
and distribute the money back to schools on a per pupil basis.

Labels: Chet_Culver, education