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Community Foundation for Western Iowa adds 3 board members
Scott Stewart
The Community Foundation for Western Iowa recently added three new board members.
The 14-member board overseeing the foundation now includes Jenny Barnett, Rick Killion and Janet Whitson, according to a news release.
Barnett
Barnett is in her fifth year as superintendent of the Harlan Community Schools. Killion recently retired as market director of American National Bank, where he works part time as a community development officer. Whitson retired as senior vice president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska in 2015.
Killion
“On behalf of the board of Directors and staff, we are thrilled to welcome Jenny, Rick and Janet to our board during such a fundamental time at the Community Foundation,” Donna Dostal, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Western Iowa, said in the release.
Whitson
The foundation is active across Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties. It seeks to improve quality of life, and it invests and administers money for a variety of charitable funds.
“As we continue to grow and expand our services throughout western Iowa, their leadership and expertise will be essential," Dostal said. "Given their community involvement and experience, I am confident they will play an important role on the community foundation’s future.”
Community Foundation for Western Iowa President and CEO Donna Dostal discusses the foundation's role in the community outside the foundation's…
Government-politics
US Sen. Chuck Grassley highlights grants President Donald Trump wants to eliminate
Scott Stewart
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley recently called attention to the apportionment of federal Community Service Block Grant funding.
Grassley, in a post on X last week, said he raised the need to release funding with Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, in a meeting earlier this month. Grassley posted that CSBG "supports programs that reduce poverty" and help people become self-sufficient.
Among the Iowa agencies receiving funding are West Central Community Action in Harlan, according to a news release. WCCA serves Southwest Iowa communities with outreach centers and Head Start centers across Cass, Crawford, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties.
More than 270,000 Iowans are served by the agencies like WCCA supported by CSBG, Grassley said. In remarks at a hearing, Grassley called on the release of the appropriated money, telling Vought the executive agency lacks the authority to impound it.
"We are not getting any answers about why these quarterly allotments aren't given out," Grassley said in the remarks, which were flagged to the attention of The Nonpareil by a Grassley spokesperson. "... So, I want those quarterly allotments released.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley meets with members of the Iowa Restaurant
Association and the Iowa Hotel and Lodging Association to discuss
the impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on their respective
industries during a meeting at Barley's in Council Bluffs on
Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
JOE SHEARER, THE NONPAREIL
A fact sheet distributed by the White House lists the Community Service Block Grant among several "woke programs" it is seeking to eliminate as part of President Donald Trump deems the "radical gender and racial ideologies that poison the minds of Americans."
The White House asserts that CSBG funding "has been hijacked from true poverty reduction to things such as equity-building and green energy initiatives." It is recommending the elimination of the program from the federal budget.
During a stop at Camp High Hopes in Sioux City on Aug. 13, 2025, U.S. Chuck Grassley criticized the Trump administration's handling of renewab…
Education
Iowa boosted new teacher pay. Did it improve state's salary ranking?
Lucia Cheng
Des Moines Register
Gregory Barord writes on a dry erase board in his classroom at
Central Campus on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Des Moines.
USA Today Network
Teacher salaries aren't keeping up with inflation. And compared to the rest of the nation, Iowa's teacher salaries are falling further behind.
For the 2024-2025 school year, the average salary of a public school teacher in Iowa was around $65,000. The national average is about $75,000 — a $10,000 difference, according to a new report from the National Education Association.
Compared to the 2017-2018 school year, teachers across the United States earn about 5% less when adjusted for inflation.
Iowa teacher salaries increase after law change
The report reflects the first year of Iowa teacher salaries under a new law that raised the minimum by more than 40%. The change, approved in 2024, raised the minimum from $33,500 to $47,500 and required that teachers with 12 years of experience make at least $60,000.
The bill increased those requirements again for the 2025-2026 to $50,000 for beginning teachers and $62,000 for teachers with 12 years of experience.
But even with the extra legislative pay bump, Iowa teachers today earn about 10% less than ten years ago when adjusted for inflation, according to the NEA report.
How do Iowa teacher salaries compare to other states?
The highest average teacher salary in the nation is in California at $103,552. The lowest average is in Mississippi at $54,975. Iowa ranks 30th in the nation at $65,312.
For average starting salaries, Iowa went from one of the states that paid public school teachers the least in 2023 (ranked 46th) to a state now hovering in the middle for pay (now ranked 24th). At the time the bill was passed, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds anticipated it would place Iowa in the top five.
While minimum salaries in Iowa have increased significantly, the average top teacher salary only increased by about 5% between the 2023 and 2024 school years.
Overall, Iowa ranks 30th for average teacher pay, up two spots from the 2023-2024 report.
What else does the National Education Association report say about Iowa?
Besides salary, the report also ranked Iowa second in the nation for improvement in public school attendance rates. The percentage of students attending school daily has gone up almost 6% — although that still leaves Iowa in 31st place overall for high attendance rates.
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Community Foundation for Western Iowa
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley criticizes Trump administration handling of renewable energy
