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Buena Vista County is doing okay, considering. Our economy is in relatively decent shape with low unemployment. But the virus continues to ravage us with BV topping the 4,000-case mark last weekend. The schools are doing welllocally, the frontline workers have been heroes, and we at least are assured that effective vaccines are in production. The overriding and urgent goal of Iowa should be getting through this pandemic and recovering as quickly as possible.

Instead, the legislature controlled by the Republican Party is playing political games by ramming through a right-wing legislative agenda. No better illustration can be made than in education.

The governor and legislature are pushing school vouchers for students in underperforming districts. That is not the solution for Sac City. The solution is trying to help families and children succeed through stronger schools. That means money. Figure out why the district is not achieving, and design programs that make the public school more effective.

The same is true for an urban school district with a disadvantaged enrollment.

The brothers who own this newspaper are proud graduates of St. Marys High School and Catholic universities. We are strong supporters of the Iowa Tuition Grant, which supports Buena Vista University. Pell Grants support private institutions of higher education for students of limited means. Government funds support reading and school lunch programs. It is all good. St. Marys School is important to Storm Lakes social fabric. So is Buena Vista. They receive and deserve public support to the extent that they satisfy public goods by meeting state and federal education requirements.

But this is not the year to be pushing vouchers.

We are for grants that help private schools survive the pandemic. We would like to see the Iowa Tuition Grant increased in size. Support the existing tuition assistance tax credit set up for parochial schools. Discussion of vouchers can wait for another day, when we are past our current state of emergency. We must keep schools whole and not decide to refashion our public education system in the middle of a national crisis.

We have been chipping away at the foundations of education for years. State appropriations to public universities have declined while private corporate donations and tuition leading to enormous student debt loads have replaced them. Community colleges are increasing tuition and local property taxes. K-12 public school districts suffered during the economic recession of 2008-10 that drove Gov. Chet Culver out of office, and have since been starved further by the Branstad/Reynolds tenure with state aid that seldom keeps pace with inflation. The state took away the ability of teachers to bargain with the school board. We should leave bad enough alone. But the culture wars call. Vouchers have animated public school educators across the state.

Republicans would do well to slow down and just get through this emergency. Pass a standpat budget, help bail out public health agencies and schools, and get out of Des Moines. That is the best political strategy, too. The public generally supports open enrollment among school districts but not direct vouchers. The public supports the unique sharing arrangement that goes on between St. Marys, Buena Vista, Iowa Central and Storm Lake High School. There are all sorts of creative ways to support private and public schools, to provide a bit of competition to keep everyone sharp, that involve steady state investment and partnerships with private philanthropy. Vouchers are not the best way to achieve better academic performance for every student unless the state is prepared to give public schools what they need. They have been on an austerity budget for a decade, all of them, public and private, as Iowa conducts this great experiment in allowing education funding to lag economic performance. And that is precisely why Iowas economic performance is subpar, because we are short-changing education.

Right now, we dont need huge tax cuts or shifts in tax load. We dont need a debate over abortion, which actually is not a pressing problem in Buena Vista County. We dont need a hollering match over vouchers when so many of us are simply emotionally exhausted. The pandemic is the problem. Period. Use your heads. Get after it. Leave everything else alone.

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Editorial: Quit culture wars, fight the pandemic - The Storm Lake Times