{"id":131002,"date":"2025-08-09T06:02:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T06:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/131002\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T06:02:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T06:02:17","slug":"iowa-doge-floats-performance-based-pay-for-teachers-and-eliminating-ipers-for-new-state-hires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/131002\/","title":{"rendered":"Iowa DOGE floats performance-based pay for teachers and eliminating IPERS for new state hires"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Kim Reynolds\u2019 Iowa DOGE Task Force<\/a> is floating government efficiency ideas that include paying teachers based on their performance and reducing state employee benefits to align with the private sector.<\/p>\n

The task force unveiled 45 recommendations at its meeting Wednesday, but the list is not final until its members vote to finalize the recommendations at a future meeting.<\/p>\n

Task force member Terry Lutz said Iowa has increased spending on K-12 education over time, but the state\u2019s national rankings in math, reading and science have slipped to the middle of the pack. He said the current education funding model isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur current system rewards teachers and administrators for their length of service or the duties they take on, with no ties to student achievements,\u201d Lutz said at a task force meeting Wednesday. \u201cThis system does not reward excellence in education. It\u2019s important to note, we are not suggesting cutting costs. We are focused on spending that rewards what matters: higher student achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his working group on the task force recommends a \u201cpay for performance\u201d system that ties teacher and administrator compensation to student outcomes, along with dashboards that can be used to compare dollars spent with student achievement.<\/p>\n

Lutz also said some state jobs have health care and retirement benefits that far exceed the private sector. He said his working group recommends eliminating the state\u2019s public employee pension plan, known as IPERS, and replacing it with a defined contribution program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current program is creating huge liabilities for our state,\u201d Lutz said. \u201cCurrently, the state is contributing nearly 70% to an employee\u2019s retirement plan, where the employee is contributing only 30%. In the private sector, these percentages would almost be the opposite of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said state employee contributions to their health insurance costs are \u201cextremely low and way out of whack with the private sector.\u201d Lutz said the state should study how to align state compensation and benefits more closely with the private sector, and that the state could consider applying these changes to health and retirement benefits only to new employees.<\/p>\n

Iowa DOGE Task Force Chair Emily Schmitt was asked about these recommendations after the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was put on us as the task force to really look at the benchmarking out there \u2014 how do we run a state like a business, where we\u2019re getting the results and looking at the outcomes,\u201d she said. \u201cNot just the programs, but also where is an outlier compared to what we\u2019re seeing in business, and how do we keep up with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While county consolidation was mentioned at the Iowa DOGE meeting in June, task force members said Wednesday they are recommending local governments share more services and have the state take on some county functions in an effort to cut costs and improve services.<\/p>\n

Schmitt said the task force is facing a Sept. 29 deadline to deliver its final recommendations to the governor. From there, many of the recommendations could be considered by state lawmakers during the 2026 legislative session.<\/p>\n

Task force member and Fareway CEO Reynolds Cramer, who led the workforce work group, said he believes the Iowa DOGE recommendations are for the state of Iowa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not matter who is in the governor\u2019s seat, who controls what area at the Statehouse,\u201d he said. \u201cIt matters about the dollars spent when it comes to workforce, keeping kids who graduate in Iowa to stay in Iowa \u2014 to get jobs, to move on for further education and live their life here \u2014 and all together, create a better economic situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are some of the recommendations discussed by the Iowa DOGE Task Force:<\/p>\n