Former Iowa State Representative and Congresswoman hopeful, Christina Bohannan, stopped by the Belle Center as part of the Rural Restoration Project, to hear directly from constituents on educational matters.
As a professor of Law at the University of Iowa, Bohannan spent the day traveling the Congressional District to better understand the needs of the people. As someone who grew up in a town of 700 people, she understands the need for rural schools, and wants more of a focus on building those up. She mentioned that education is something that needs investment, and the country does not want to fall behind other countries, such as China. 
Some of the concerns brought up during the meeting include the school lunch program, with kids not getting enough food, more funding for mental health resources, such as mental health professionals servicing one building rather than multiple school districts at the same time. Success was also a key issue, with the idea of judging student success not on test scores, but on a variety of factors.
Bohannan made it clear that she does not support widespread student loan forgiveness, however, she would like to explore the idea of targeting certain loans. For example, if a teacher were to spend 5 years working in an area that was starved for educators, that person might see forgiveness.
Bohannan will be looking for a different outcome in her November rematch against Miller-Meeks.