Senator Daryl Beall speaks to Human Services class
by Bill McIntyre
Photo Courtesy of Bill McIntyre
Posted on 10/20/2009
State Senator Daryl Beall faced some hard questions from students in John Wilson’s Human Behavior and Social Environment class this week. No harder, however, than the ones he and the rest of Iowa’s legislators will face when they convene in January amid one of the most serious budget shortfalls in the state’s history.
One of the area’s expected to feel the pinch of Gov. Chet Culver’s 10 percent across the board funding cut in the middle of the current fiscal year, is human services, the very field which the 15 students in Wilson’s class are pursuing. Beall, a longtime advocate for many of the state agencies included under the human services umbrella, says he feels the pain, too, but at this point there is little that can be done to avoid deep and immediate cuts.
``The Governor had no choice but to do what he did with the 10 percent cut,’’ Beall said, ``but I might have preferred a special legislative session to be a little more surgical about it. At least we could go in and backfill some areas. I don’t look at it as a case of over spending. It’s more like we were under-revenued.’’
Beall told the class he was especially concerned about potential cuts in public safety, as in corrections officers for the three correctional facilities in his senate district, and state troopers patrolling Iowa’s highways. One student asked about how the cuts would impact Iowa Central. Education, Beall said, was another area that could not afford to be shorted, but would not escape either.
``Eighty percent of Iowa’s budget is tied up in three areas—to educate, to medicate, and to incarcerate,’’ he said. ``That leaves little else to trim from.’’
The students posed questions that dealt with homeless shelters, particularly for children, substance abuse rehabilitation, illegal aliens who may be taking jobs from legal immigrants, unemployment compensation and specifically whether or not some unemployed Iowans are actively seeking jobs, and the overriding national issue of health care reform, and who pays for it.
Beall, a two-term senator facing re-election in 2010, said there are no easy answers to any of the questions but that he and the 149 other state senators and representatives would be charged with finding some beginning in January. Beall, a Democrat, said the best way to get anything done would be to work across party lines.
Wilson’s students were well prepared to interact with Beall, himself an Iowa Central graduate and former student body president. Beall acknowledged that this is a rough time for all Iowans and particularly those less fortunate who depend on state services. ``It wasn’t much fun (in the legislature) this year, and it will be worse next year,’’ he said.
He quickly added that as bleak as Iowa’s financial situation appears, the state is still in better shape than many others. ``It isn’t all doom and gloom,’’ he said. Maybe the next time he speaks to an Iowa Central class, there will be better news to report.