Iowa governor: Redirecting state money to private schools 'not unreasonable'

Gov. Kim Reynolds said Thursday that efforts to expand school choice by allowing parents to redirect state money to private, parochial or home-school expenses is "not unreasonable."

Legislation introduced this week would create education savings grants — sometimes referred to as education savings accounts or school vouchers — that would allow certain students to use state money to pay for private or home school expenses.

Starting in the 2019-20 school year, students starting kindergarten or those who attended public school the year prior could use roughly $5,000 to $6,000 in state money to pay for private education.

The intention is to give public school families who can't afford an alternative school option a way to pay for it, said state Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, who filed Senate File 2091 on Wednesday.

"It's a fundamental question: Should we be funding systems, whether the system is working or not, or should we be funding students and allow them to excel in the best way possible?" Chelgren told the Register.

On Thursday, Reynolds told reporters that she'd not yet seen the bill, but said "it's not unreasonable to give parents the opportunity for choice."

"I think it's really important that we have a very strong public school system," Reynolds said. "It's also important to provide parents with choice, so I think it's a balance, but I would need to take a look at that."

RELATED:

Three 'school choice' efforts Iowa advocates will push in 2018

Iowa public school advocates fight for funding amid cries for 'choice'

How Iowa schools could rethink teacher pay, shore up school budgets

Iowa home-school students could get better access to online classes

Bill would add 'Bible literacy' class to Iowa public schools

Reynolds also said she's looking at changing Iowa 529 college savings plans to extend their use to cover K-12 school tuition. That change is possible under the new federal tax reform bill.

"That's an opportunity and it has no impact on our public schools," Reynolds said.

That would allow families to use tax-advantaged money to pay for private or religious schools. More than $5 billion is held in 529 accounts by thousands of parents, grandparents and others.

"Parents should be able to make that decision," Reynolds said, adding that "sometimes there's ways to do that that really minimize the impact that it would have on public schools."

The proposal for education savings grants, Senate File 2091, would be focused on public school families who want to seek other school options. It would not be open to students who already attend a nonpublic school or who are home-schooled, Chelgren said.

"If there's a public school that's failing, we have a responsibility to those children that we give them the best opportunity possible," he said.

The grants could also pay for textbooks, educational therapies, private online education programs and related purchases such as a computer once every three years.

They would not pay for transportation, food, clothing or disposable material such as paper, notebooks, pencils or art supplies, the bill says.

If there's money left in accounts after high school graduation, students could use it toward higher education through the age of 23. That includes a Board of Regents college, community college or private college in Iowa.

Active duty military could extend that, based on years of service, through age 27.

Applications would be submitted to the state Department of Education and parents would be asked to sign a contract to access the funds. In addition, they'd have to prove educational progress each year.

"If the child isn't learning on a year-to-year basis, they'd have to go back," Chelgren said. "We don't want any child to fall through and fall behind."

After the bill was introduced, public school advocates quickly reached out to legislators to warn about the potential negative impact to public schools if state resources are directed elsewhere.

The bill would specifically direct per-student dollars away from public schools and into education savings grants — roughly $5,000 to $6,000 per student, Chelgren told the Register.

Iowa currently spends $6,591 per public school student for regular educational expenses, according to 2017 Department of Management data.