Keegan Jones is a lifelong Iowan and 2013 graduate of Fort Dodge Senior High. He currently works as a financial analyst and consultant.

Against the backdrop of a conservative culture war on schools, Iowa Republican lawmakers are again determined to pass a version of “school choice,” which cleared the state Senate last year but failed to win enough support in the House.

We all remember the days when Iowa was known for having one of the country’s best public school systems. Years of inadequate funding increases that fail to meet schools’ rising operating costs have put additional strain on teachers and degraded the quality of education for our students.  

Governor Kim Reynolds now seeks an overhaul of Iowa’s education system to fix the problems she and her colleagues created. Her latest school choice proposal, Senate Study Bill 3080, is scheduled to be considered in an Iowa Senate subcommittee on February 2.

Reynolds’ bill would create taxpayer-funded scholarships for private schools. Although the bill doesn’t use the word “voucher,” the concept is similar to other credits and taxpayer-funded scholarships commonly described as voucher programs.

Conservatives market school choice as a sensible solution that guarantees every child, no matter the socioeconomic status of their family, gets equal access to a quality education, and parents get to choose which school is best.

Unfortunately, Iowa’s school choice proposals would further widen the inequality gap and primarily benefit the wealthiest residents while continuing to punish those who can’t afford to leave their underfunded public school.

The proposed “student first scholarship” program would cover the cost of tuition at a private school for a select few students. It should come as no surprise that an administration which has underfunded education programs for a decade – and is willing to sit on a $1 billion surplus in the middle of a pandemic – will not fund the student first scholarship program at a level required to give every student a fair shot.

These small private schools also don’t have the physical capacity to accept a large swath of new students, even with additional state aid. So not every family wanting to have their choice will be able to take advantage of the program.

Thousands of rural students don’t have any private option, and in rural areas where private schools exist, this bill would only expedite the closing and consolidation of public school districts. In this year’s proposal, Reynolds sought to address the concerns raised by lawmakers representing rural areas by diverting millions of dollars from Iowa’s urban school districts to rural ones. Once again, the governor is picking winners and losers based on whose checkbook speaks the loudest.

Iowa’s private schools already receive a significant amount of public resources. On a per student basis, private schools received a larger share of CARES act funding (federal COVID-19 relief), and almost all were approved for PPP loans. While these schools are well funded and provide a valuable service for communities, there is no justification for giving them more taxpayer funding while starving public schools.

Under the governor’s plan, private schools and wealthy parents would receive money directly from the government, while middle- and working-class parents in rural districts would see their school funding levels slashed while they receive no additional support from the state.

Not only would this bill increase economic inequality across the state, it would also create additional civil inequalities for Iowans. Private schools aren’t required to comply with discrimination laws, and thus get to pick and choose which students can attend. Because of these protections, private and religious schools can reject students for any reason.

Students of color, LGBTQ+ students, religious minorities, students with learning disabilities, and low-income families will be blocked from taking advantage of the “student first scholarships.” It’s expensive for schools to ensure students have their needs met. For example, more than 50 percent of students in Fort Dodge public schools qualify for free and reduced lunch. Private schools can reject students to avoid this added cost.  Iowa’s idea of school choice is nothing more than taxpayer funded discrimination against our most marginalized communities.

It’s no secret that there are benefits to attending private school. Smaller class sizes, newer technology, higher graduation rates — the list goes on. That’s why people choose to pay the tuition fee to have their child go to a private school. They believe it will give their child more opportunities in life, and everyone wants what’s best for their child.

The issue is when those in charge of public schools – namely members of our state and local government – choose to ignore their duty to improve public education and instead advocate for private education. Their choice hurts those students most at risk and provides yet another advantage for the wealthy.

This proposed bill gives private schools a blank check and includes no method to hold schools accountable against fraud, waste, and abuse. State Auditor Rob Sand pointed out last year that the governor’s school choice plan contained “no independent audit provision, and in fact no audit requirement whatsoever. The public will have little ability to see what is happening with their tax dollars.” These private schools can teach whatever ideology they choose without any requirement to meet basic state or federal standards. All at the expense of the taxpayer.

Over the last year, the governor has made it clear that she will unilaterally make important decisions for each district with little regard for the concerns of teachers or school administrations. And now, under the guise of improving access to quality education, our state leaders have a plan to continue their overreach: divert even more funding away from public schools directly into the bank accounts of parents of private school students.

When GOP lawmakers have cut education funding, kept teacher salaries stagnant, eviscerated their collective bargaining rights, and accused educators of having a “sinister agenda,” it’s no mystery why many teachers do not want a career in Iowa. Now Republican leaders feign ignorance about why we have a teacher shortage and want to exploit the situation to push their own agenda: “look at how bad these public schools are! We need to give students the option to attend private school.” Their solution is to help a small fraction of students at the expense of everyone else.

If you want to improve public schools, fund them adequately. Stop defunding programs designed to improve proficiency. Stop giving taxpayer dollars to private and religious schools. Making private school more affordable for a wealthy family that was planning on sending their child to that school will not improve the education quality for those most at risk, including those families that have no choice in the first place. Improving the public school system would help the average family and all Iowans far more than this latest Republican “school choice” grift.

Top photo of Fort Dodge Senior High School first published on the school’s Facebook page.