News : Election Profile: Iowa Senate District 38 candidate Shelly Parbs

Shelley Parbs, candidate, Iowa Senate District 38

“The Iowa Legislature has failed to take the bold steps necessary to help Iowans who are unemployed or underemployed. I’m running for the Iowa Senate to improve Iowa’s economic climate to benefit both employers and employees, increase our investment in worker training, and make sure jobless Iowans get the help they need to get back on their feet.”

Shelley Parbs, a Democrat, is a production worker at Rockwell Collins and is currently the Chair of the Regional Workforce Investment Board for Region 10, which covers seven counties surrounding the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor, including Benton and Iowa County.

“Governor Branstad has replaced trained individuals with computers at local employment offices. And as anyone who’s ever had to look for a new job knows, computer stations are not the same as trained workforce staff. Closing these offices at a time when unemployment is unacceptably high is highly irresponsible.”

“Raising our kids in Benton County, we had access to a public education system at Center Point-Urbana where small class sizes and close attention to individual students were the norm, rather than the exception,” said Parbs. “But because state officials have forced cuts to education budgets over the past several years, Iowa students just aren’t getting the same opportunities that they once were.

“I will never settle for a second-best school system like some politicians in Des Moines seem to be satisfied with. I’ll fight to make sure that our great education system, from preschool through college, is a priority for the Legislature and gets the support it needs to return to the world-class standards Iowa schools were once known for.”

Shelley graduated from Urbana High School in 1981 and received her Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Mt. Mercy College in 2009. She and her husband Ron, an auto mechanic, live in rural Urbana and have two grown children, Maria and Jason. In addition to her service with the Regional Workforce Board, Parbs has also served on a Financial Stability Team at The United Way, the Food Advisory Council for Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) and is a member of the Iowa Credit Union Review Board.