Gronstal blasts IASB, says legislators will use subpoenas to get answers

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (D-Council Bluffs) says the recent disclosure of questionable spending at the Iowa Association of School Boards is akin to the financial scandal involving a central Iowa job training agency — a scandal which led to the conviction of several agency executives and a former Des Moines city councilman who was on the board that oversaw the agency.

Read some of Gronstal’s comments on the IASB situation.  (That Radio Iowa story was posted at 12:10 p.m.; it will be updated with additional information as soon as possible.)  As of 1 p.m., the story has been updated and includes the tidbit that during a six-minute discussion about the IASB, Gronstal used the word “outraged” or “outrageous” five times.   He also used the word “unbelievable” once.  The questions about the IASB were at the start of the Q&A on Iowa Press.   Here’s the show’s home page.  The video from today’s show may be posted soon.  The video from today’s show is posted online.

UPDATE at 4:47 p.m.:  IASB spokeswoman Megan Forgrave emails a response:  “The Iowa Association of School Boards has been looking into financial matters here, and hired an external financial firm to help do that. We are happy to respond to the Legislative Oversight Committee. IASB has over 60 years of history serving school districts. We have worked to keep dues low, so that a minimal amount of tax dollars are used for operational costs – they are about a third of our revenues. Our business services are competitive with others and many of them in fact help stretch tax dollars. The Safety Group Insurance Program, for example, will pay Senator Gronstal’s Council Bluffs school district a dividend of $33,196 this spring and they paid dues this year of $10,366. We are committed to resolving this issue and moving on.”