Education reform bill passes in Legislature

While most Iowans were sleeping, the Legislature on Monday night and Tuesday morning passed sweeping changes to K-12 education funding that will allow taxpayer dollars to be used for tuition at private schools.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who made the proposal a key campaign issue during her successful 2022 re-election bid, signed the legislation on Tuesday. With overwhelming GOP majorities in both the House and Senate, the Students First Act faced little chance of rejection. It passed 55-45 in the House with all Democrats and nine Republicans opposed. In the Senate, it passed 31-18 with all Democrats and three Republicans opposed.

In a statement released Monday, Reynolds said she was "thrilled" about the bill's passage.

"For the first time, we will fund students instead of a system, a decisive step in ensuring that every child in Iowa can receive the best education possible," she said. "Parents, not the government, can now choose the education setting best suited to their child regardless of their income or zip code."

According to the Iowa Department of Education, only 57 of Iowa's 99 counties have an accredited nonpublic school. O'Brien County has four, with certified private enrollment tallied at 309 students this year. Clay County has two private schools, with total enrollment certified at 248 students in 2022-23. Neither county has a private school that offers high school grades.

Conversely, O'Brien County's three K-12 public school districts are serving 2,263 students this year and Clay County's two public school districts serve 2,228 students.

The bill has been the most divisive issue in Des Moines during the first three weeks of the legislative session, with proponents claiming it gives parents more choice in their child's education by eliminating financial barriers. Opponents said it was problematic for a variety of reasons and believe it will hurt public education in the long run. They were also angered by the speed at which the bill was pushed through both chambers, as the Republican majority allowed few opportunities for amendments and debate.

The bill will be phased in over three years and eventually allow all Iowa families to use up to $7,598 a year in an "education savings account" for private school tuition. After tuition and fees are paid for, families could use any remaining funds for a variety of education-related expenses like textbooks, tutoring, standardized testing fees, online education programs, and vocational and life skills training.

The $7,598 allotment per private school student is the same amount of funding the state provides to public school students and is expected to rise in future years.

As per the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA), the program is expected to cost $345 million annually by its fourth year. Over the course of the first four years, the state would spend about $879 million as the program phases in. The LSA says the cost to administer the program is unknown. The agency also projects public school enrollment to drop by more than 10,000 students by Fiscal Year 2027.

Freshman District 3 Sen. Lynn Evans (R-Aurelia), a former superintendent at Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn whose territory includes all of O'Brien County and parts of Clay County, was one of the three Republicans to vote against the bill. He was concerned the bill didn't provide protections for students with special learning needs or disabilities.

"If a private school accepts students with Student First scholarships, they should not be able to discriminate based on students with special education needs," he said. "Parents seeking a private school choice for their child should not be turned away for these reasons. If so, do they and their child really have parental choice?"

Evans also believed the current proposal calling for a 2.5 percent increase in State Supplemental Aid (SSA) funding was inadequate. The SSA increase will be addressed later this session and wasn't part of the Students First Act.

As per the Des Moines Register, public school districts will receive an additional $1,205 in funding for students receiving education savings accounts who live within the district's boundaries. Additionally, the newspaper noted the bill allows public school districts to use professional development funding to provide raises to teachers.

Evans pointed out the bill passed Tuesday allows some additional flexibility in how school districts use categorical funds, which he liked.

"Once the requirements have been met in spending those categorical funds, schools can choose to use any remaining fund balances for other general fund expenditures, like increasing teacher salaries," he said. "This is a good change and one that I have been pushing for a number of years."

House District 5 Rep. Zach Dieken (R-Granville), whose territory includes all of O'Brien County, voted in favor of the bill.

"I am for parents being given their money back to use towards education," he said. "I like that parents are getting some of their income tax dollars back to use towards education. I don't like that the [Iowa] Department of Education is overseeing everything."

Dieken believed opponents' concerns about the bill were overblown.

"If a school is worth its salt and is educating its students, they have nothing to worry about," he said. "The question assumes parents are going to want to leave if this passes. I am not afraid of this happening because the data doesn't support it."

Dieken said the bill was needed "because parents doing what they want with their money the government stole from them is always needed."

"My tax dollars are already spent on pre-K, private daycares and tuition grants for students going to private colleges like I did, so I'm in favor of K-12 [education] being treated like all other levels of education," he said.

Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Superintendent Patrick Carlin declined to comment on the bill, and multiple attempts seeking comment from Clay Central/Everly Superintendent Kevin Wood via email were unsuccessful.

Other lawmakers from the area voted in favor of the bill – District 10 Rep. John Wills (R-Spirit Lake), District 6 Rep. Megan Jones (R-Sioux Rapids) and District 5 Sen. Dave Rowley (R-Spirit Lake).