Dropping test scores, increased violence, classes too large for teachers to manage.

No, this isn’t a picture of urban, inner city schools.

This is Iowa’s education.

Once known for nation-leading test scores and top-ranked high school graduates, Iowa’s education system is now in danger of crumbling.

Scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills fell in all 377 school districts in Iowa this year. The percentage of fourth-graders who can read at least at a “proficient” rate in Iowa fell three percentage points from 1992 to 1996.

So what is the state doing to reverse this alarming trend?

As surprising as it may seem, virtually nothing.

The key to increasing test-taking proficiency obviously lies in top-notch teachers, something Iowa has never lacked.

But now Iowa can’t seem to attract or keep the teachers we so desperately need.

Fewer and fewer college graduates are staying in Iowa to teach, and more and more teachers who do stay quit after a few years.

Why do we have such a difficult time retaining the people responsible for the future of our state?

The answer to that one is easy: unbelievably low teacher salaries.

We all know that teachers make less than almost any profession.

But in Iowa, the situation is especially pathetic.

Average Iowa teacher salaries are $33,275, a ranking of 34 in the nation, $5,234 less than the national average.

How can we possibly expect to keep teachers in this state when other Midwestern states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri pay them, on average, $5,211.50 higher than we do?

And there seems to be no efforts to change this. A bill in the Iowa Legislature dealing with raising teacher pay and increasing teacher standards is, according to The Des Moines Register, “unlikely” to make it through either the House or the Senate.

This year in Iowa, we will have an enormous budget surplus. Why not spend some of that money on the most underappreciated and overworked workers in our society?