Sand calls for removal of four-year degree requirements for some state jobs

(Red Oak) — State Auditor Rob Sand continues his call for the state to remove four-year college degree requirements for some public sector jobs.

Earlier this year, the State Auditor’s Office released a report in conjunction with the non-profit Opportunity@Work to review the state’s list of jobs and identify which require a four-year college degree. Per the report, over 60% of the state’s workforce is “skilled through alternative route” rather than receiving a bachelor’s degree, such as military service, community college, or on-the-job training. Speaking during a town hall in Red Oak Wednesday, Sand says they identified 28 roles in the state government that could remove what they deem “unnecessary” four-year degree requirements or preferences to fulfill those positions.

“This has been called the ‘paper ceiling’ and I think it makes a lot of sense as an expression,” said Sand. “There’s a lot of qualified people out there that can do these jobs, but we sort of say arbitrarily and for no good reason that you need a four-year degree to do it or we want one. So we’re losing out on really well-qualified applicants for people to do the work that taxpayers need to get done.”

The report identified job titles such as IT administrator, human resources professional, and niche specialist. Sand says the report comes two years after his own office began accepting individuals with a two-year accounting degree. Since then, he says 10% of their hires have been individuals with a two-year degree.

“My attitude on it is that there’s a lot of people who make the decision to get the two-year degree because they’re value-oriented and see they could spend half the time and less than half the money to get the same degree and the same pay,” he said. “I would like to have people with that mindset in the taxpayer’s watchdog.”

Sand says his office forwarded the report to the Department of Administrative Services, which sets job descriptions and requirements for state agencies. During the town hall, Sand also discussed a recent report from his office covering the overall property tax levies for every tax district in the state. Ultimately, Sand says they found lower-to-middle-income Iowans carry a larger property tax burden than wealthier Iowans.

“We compared the levy rate across all districts to the income in those districts, and when you put that on a graph, it’s pretty clear the levy rate goes down as the income district gets more wealthy,” Sand explained. “So, across the state of Iowa wealthier towns and wealthier neighborhoods are actually paying a lower property tax levy rate than they are in rural areas and poorer areas.”

The report reviewed property tax data from 2014, 2017, and 2024. Sand says he was surprised to find a study like this had not been conducted before.

“To me it seems like its a little upside down, so I think this is a good thing to identify,” said Sand. “The Legislature is always looking at taxes and how we handle taxation in the state, so hopefully they’ll use that inform some of their decision making.”

The report noted that school district levies accounted for the largest share of overall property tax rates, followed by localities and counties, respectively. Sand also visited Creston, Corning, Greenfield, and Guthrie Center on Tuesday and made other stops in Glenwood and Sidney on Wednesday.