Iowa DOGE Task Force considers performance-based teacher pay, changes to county services

DES MOINES — Allowing some cities to become independent of counties, aligning public sector employee compensation and benefits with the private sector, and basing teacher compensation on student outcomes were some of the emerging recommendations discussed by the Iowa DOGE Task Force on Wednesday.

The group met as it prepares to finalize its proposals to streamline state government and reduce state spending.

After more than two months of talking with stakeholders and holding focus groups, the 15-person task force held its third of four planned meetings at a state government office building in Des Moines’ East Village. During the meeting, members presented more solidified solutions for making Iowa’s government more efficient in three focus areas: workforce, technology and return on taxpayer investment.

Created by Gov. Kim Reynolds through executive order in February, the Iowa DOGE Task Force includes leaders in business, elected office and education who are tasked with finding ways to make the state government more efficient and producing recommendations for Reynolds and lawmakers to consider.

The task force is named similarly to the federal Department of Government Efficiency organization created by President Donald Trump and formerly headed by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Ahead of the task force’s September deadline to submit its proposals to the governor and Iowa Legislature, members presented 45 recommendations across 14 themes.

Task force drops county consolidation proposal

Many of the recommendations remained similar to ones floated during a June 4 meeting, except for the idea to consolidate some of Iowa’s 99 counties to regionalize local government and save state resources.

Instead, the task force’s return on taxpayer investment group recommended amending Iowa Code to allow cities with populations over 50,000 to elect to become independent cities and have the choice to provide their own services that they currently receive from counties.

The team's head, Terry Lutz of Ankeny-based McClure Engineering, a former mayor of Fort Dodge, said this recommendation would eliminate service gaps and overlaps. The group also proposed realigning certain county-delivered services to state administration, which Lutz compared to shared services systems used by the tech company Amazon.

“Our unique makeup of 99 counties and numerous cities and townships was an efficient system when we traveled by horse and buggy,” Lutz said.

Lutz’s team also recommended other reforms in the focus areas of education, local government and government employee optimization. The recommendations included aligning public sector employee compensation and benefits with the private sector to strengthen the public workforce, and basing K-12 teacher compensation on student outcomes.

Lutz compared Iowa’s education spending to the state’s national rankings in subject areas including reading, science and math, adding that Iowa’s test scores have room to improve and basing a teacher’s pay on student performance could help.

In 2024, Iowa’s math scores fell from 7th to 30th in the nation in fourth grade and from 15th to 23rd in the nation in eighth grade, according to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress.

“We do not stack up well here, the current education funding offer is not working,” Lutz said. “Our current system rewards teachers and administrators for their length of service, for the duties they take on with no ties to student achievements. This system does not reward excellence in education.”

Near the end of the meeting, Emily Schmitt of Sukup Manufacturing Co., who was appointed by Reynolds as task force chair, said all the recommendations discussed at Wednesday’s meeting will be on the table as the task force finalizes the proposals.

“We have declining assets of time and money,” Schmitt said. “Populations aren't always growing in Iowa either. So this is something that's very impactful to discuss and really get some solutions out there.”

Technology recommendation includes ‘red tape hotline’

Some of the technology-focused team’s recommendations included using robotic process automation — software used to automate human tasks — and artificial intelligence for repetitive tasks in state and local government; increasing fraud detection; and streamlining government websites to consolidate services, including driver's license renewals and voter registration, into the same place.

“These steps will create a strong digital foundation for Iowa's government, government supporting efficiency and accountability,” Kathy Kay of Principal Financial Group, the head of the technology team, said. “By embracing innovation, from AI to cloud to data and analytics, and by breaking down silos between agencies and between state and local governments, we can dramatically improve how government works."

The workforce team, led by Fareway CEO Reynolds Cramer, recommended launching a “red tape hotline” where Iowans can report bureaucratic hurdles they face, addressing skill gaps in trade and technical fields and fast-tracking credentialing for in-demand positions, including CDL drivers, electricians and maintenance technicians.

“It does not matter who is in the governor's seat, who controls what area at the statehouse, it matters about the dollars spent, when it comes to workforce, keeping kids who graduate in Iowa to stay in Iowa to get jobs to move on for further education and live their life here,” Cramer said.

Who serves on Iowa’s DOGE Task Force?

The task force is comprised of 15 members:

Of the members, 10 are elected Republicans or have donated thousands of dollars to Iowa Republicans, including Reynolds. The two task force members who serve in the Iowa Legislature are non-voting members.

During the Wednesday meeting, it was announced that Dallas County Recorder ReNae Arnold would no longer be on the task force due to other commitments and was replaced by Webster County Supervisor Mark Campbell.