By Julia Shanahan
Gubernatorial-nomination candidate Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, spoke with University of Iowa students about his original plans prior to his political career at a meet-and-greet held Dec. 2 at Java House in downtown Iowa City.
Boulton’s original plan was to be a high-school government teacher, but after attending law school, he said, he felt a passion for representing working families.
Boulton said he takes pride in the work he has done for education and the potential for Iowa to be what he called a world-class leader in education.
“We can’t be a world leader in education if we don’t provide the proper funds,” he said.
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Boulton pointed to the Branstad-Reynolds administration, saying Iowa needs a Democratic governor to combat budget cuts that have led to the shutdown of mental-health institutions, juvenile homes, and workforce development centers.
He noted that the administration said it would increase jobs, but he hasn’t seen that happen.
Over the past year, he said, the Reynolds administration has taken away overtime pay for workers.
“I certainly didn’t shy away from standing up to this administration,” Boulton said.
He said that, because of the budget cuts, there has been an underfunding of public schools, especially in the rural areas. As a result, retirement is less secure for those teachers.
Boulton said there hasn’t been any kind of significant move to improve not only the quality of education in rural Iowa but also the quality of life. He sees shared values in urban and rural Iowa, he said, and sees a lot of opportunities for in rural areas.
“If we don’t take that seriously, tell me where we can get a rural Iowa school teacher from,” Boulton said.
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UI sophomore Hunter Staszak, a member of the UI Democrats, said he liked Boulton’s discussion about reaching families in rural Iowa. Boulton is one of his top candidates, he said, and he has a good amount of experience under his belt for being relatively new on the scene.
“It was nice to hear from him that he’s already been to 99 counties in Iowa and that he focuses on the urban-rural divide,” Staszak said.
`Boulton also spoke about the tax-overhaul bill; he said he opposes any acts detrimental to the quality of education.
Students and education leaders across the nation have expressed concern with several provisions in the tax bill that they believe would be harmful to higher education. On Nov. 29, graduate students took to the Pentacrest to protest the House version of the legislation, which proposes repealing a tax exemption for tuition waivers.
If the legislation is enacted into law in its current form, Boulton expressed concern about the cost of education rising for students and becoming a barrier to earning a degree.
“We’ve made it very hard for students coming out of high school to enter higher education and pursue their passion,” he said.
He hopes to improve funding for public education in order to better represent the young people of Iowa.
“Every dollar we spend in higher education is a dollar that we spend for our future workforce,” he said.
RELATED: Gubernatorial candidates say tuition must be more affordable
UI student Riley Lewers, also a member of the UI Democrats, said Boulton’s campaign reached out to the group for the event. Lewers said the organization has spoken with other gubernatorial candidates.
She said she hopes the discussion about public education will resonate with young people who are paying for schooling.
Lewers is surprised to see how many college students aren’t following the gubernatorial election, she said.
“They don’t seem realize how connected that it is to their tuition going up,” Lewers said. “Who wants to pay an additional 7 percent?”
