Episode
Making School Finance As Public As Possible w/ David I. Backer
- Podcast
- Human Restoration Project
- Published
- Nov 8, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 4013
- Processing state
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Summary
We're recording this episode the week the Iowa DOGE Task Force released their final 136 page report – you heard that right, that's the state-level version of the Department of Government Efficiency convened by our governor back in February, tasked with maximizing return on investment of Iowa taxpayer dollars. As you can imagine, among their recommendations are ideas from the Return on Taxpayer Investment Working Group about improving education results "aimed at delivering greater value for taxpayers." Fortunately for Iowans, this working group assembled a crack team of experienced education experts for the job, including the CEO of an ethanol plant, the former Chair of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, and the chair of a civil engineering firm. Among their recommendations are to: "Establish a merit-based compensation framework –including a bonus structure, teacher professional development and incentives for those in high-need schools in order to improve student outcomes and financially reward high-performing teachers." Merit-pay is of course a tried, tested, and failed idea. But teacher salaries are just one thread in the complex tapestry of how states pay for public education and the ideological tug of war in our public debates over school funding – how we pay for buildings, pensions, special education, Title 1, school food programs…every cost that goes into making schooling work…or not. If the Iowa DOGE report and the policy agenda that will inevitably follow could be titled As Privatized as Possible – doubling down on outcome-based school funding and accountability measures and even recommending AI-based bus route optimization to "cut costs and improve service"...what's the alternative? My guest today asks, "What would it mean to democratize school resources? W…