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2 weeks ago | 
thegazette.com | Bruce Lear
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced. Many of us have experienced planning committees where loud, big idea people dominate. They’re the ones who believe all their ideas are gold and they’re not shy about sharing their genius. They have 50 ideas an hour, and 49 of those should be trashed. I understand the rules for brainstorming. “There are no bad ideas.” But many of those ideas should die a natural death. But sometimes that doesn’t work.
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2 weeks ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Bruce Lear
Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at [email protected] Many of us have experienced planning committees where loud, “big idea” people dominate. They’re the ones who believe all their ideas are gold and they’re not shy about sharing their genius.
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4 weeks ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Rob Sand |Randy Evans |Bruce Lear
“The working class has been working their ass off every day to survive and make ends meet for their families,” Nathan Sage told me this week. Making working people’s lives better is the driving force of his U.S. Senate campaign. At least four Democrats are thinking seriously about running against two-term Republican incumbent Joni Ernst. Sage was the first to make it official, on April 16.
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4 weeks ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Rob Sand |Randy Evans |Bruce Lear |Laura Belin
Rob Sand is Iowa’s state auditor. Recently, an argument has been going around that goes like this: private schools are accredited to teach students, therefore they’re accountable to taxpayers. This claim ignores that being accredited as an academic institution has nothing to do with how an entity spends money. Accredited private schools taking vouchers still have no rules for how they spend tax dollars, and no audits either.
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4 weeks ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Randy Evans |Bruce Lear |Laura Belin |Sue Dinsdale
Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes openness and transparency in Iowa’s state and local governments. He can be reached at [email protected]. A constitutional showdown taking shape in southern Iowa’s Decatur County could put taxpayers on the hook financially to defend the county’s efforts to silence a critic of public officials there.
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4 weeks ago | 
thegazette.com | Bruce Lear
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced. During my 27 years representing teachers, I encountered a variety of teacher assistance plans. The intended purpose was to provide more detail than just having an evaluator sit in a classroom for 30 minutes and then check the “Needs Improvement” box on the evaluation form. Some evaluators recognized legitimate teaching deficiencies and tried to provide constructive assistance.
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1 month ago | 
siouxcityjournal.com | Bruce Lear
During my 27 years representing teachers, I encountered a variety of teacher assistance plans. The intended purpose was to provide more detail than just having an evaluator sit in a classroom for 30 minutes and then check the “Needs Improvement” box on the evaluation form. But those plans varied wildly in both quality and intent. Some evaluators recognized legitimate teaching deficiencies and tried to provide constructive assistance.
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1 month ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Bruce Lear
Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at [email protected] If you ask an Iowa educator what they need to be successful, you’ll get a list of things like, time to prepare, no legislative attacks, parental support, adequate supplies, administrative backing, and adequate school funding.
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1 month ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Rod Sullivan |Bruce Lear |Bernie Scolaro
Dave Price had the scoop for Gray Media on March 28: State Senator Zach Wahls is “certainly listening” to those who have encouraged him to run for U.S. Senate in 2026. Wahls is the first Democrat to publicly express interest in this race. Two-term Senator Joni Ernst has not formally launched her re-election campaign but is widely expected to seek a third term. Wahls told Price he will decide whether to run for higher office after the Iowa legislative session.
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1 month ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Rod Sullivan |Bruce Lear |Bernie Scolaro |Randy Evans
Rod Sullivan is a Johnson County supervisor. I searched the word “Medicaid” in my archive. I was shocked to find how much I have written on the topic—tens of thousands of words over the years. Why have I written so much about Medicaid? For one, you write what you know. I used to work in the Iowa Medicaid program. Even though that was several years ago, I know Medicaid quite well. That is why the Republican scheme to cut the program upsets me so much.
