DES MOINES - A trio of GOP legislators Tuesday proposed statewide content standards for schools, exit tests for graduating seniors and entrance exams for teachers to bolster Iowa's public education system.

Republican Rep. Mike May of Spirit Lake, Rep. Jodi Tymeson of Winterset and Sen. Kim Reynolds of Osceola said the reform initiatives were designed to inject greater accountability, standards and transparency into an Iowa school system struggling to stay competitive with other states and nations.

"As a proud product of Iowa's public schools, it is very troubling to watch our once-great educational system slip into mediocrity," said Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn, who joined the three legislators in announcing their party's schoolhouse initiative.

Noting reports indicating that one in two Iowa high school graduates need some form of remedial class work when they get to college, Strawn said Republicans are proposing three common-sense solutions to set high academic standards, test students and teachers to ensure those standards are being met and keep parents and taxpayers fully informed of students' progress.

May said statewide academic content standards are needed that align achievement with the demands of a global economy. Rather than setting a "top-down core curriculum" program focused on inputs, Republicans want to establish outcome standards and give local teachers, parents, and school boards the flexibility to design their programs within the statewide guidelines, he said.

"Our students are capable of being the best in the world, and we must establish standards that will prepare them to compete in the global economy," said May, a retired classroom teacher who taught for 33 years.

Another provision of the GOP plan would institute exit exams for graduating students and entrance exams for new teachers.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said he welcomed bipartisan ideas to improve Iowa's educational system, but he contended minority Republicans "consistently failed" to back up their words with action during recent legislative sessions.

"If Republicans have a record to run on, it's the record number of times they have voted 'no' in the last three years," McCarthy added, including on teacher training and funding for schools hit by the natural disasters of 2008.