Steve King was a teacher in Algona for 23 years and a UniServ Director with the Iowa State Education Association, serving rural school districts, Area Education Agencies, and community colleges in northwest and north central Iowa before retiring in 2012.

I am an Iowan. I was born here. I grew up here. I went to school here. I graduated from Iowa State. I worked here. And I have retired here. Heck, I don’t even like to travel out of state. I love Iowa. Well, maybe not January and February. But most of the rest of the time, count me all in.

But I am not living in the same Iowa. That state has disappeared.

I have spent my life in rural Iowa. My “urban” experience was my time at Iowa State. Winterset, Algona, and Hartley are most definitely rural Iowa. That is my life, my life of choice. And in that lifestyle there were always a few constants—rocks, if you will—that we could rely upon.

Most families went to church. We practiced our beliefs and never told anyone else how to practice theirs.

Of course, there was agriculture. Most people in rural Iowa farm, worked in farm industries, owned businesses that supported farmers, or were more profitable and prosperous when farmers did well. It was, and still is the heart or rural Iowa from county seats to smaller communities.

But mostly, Iowa had education. It was our core. We were usually among the top five systems in the nation in most measures. Well, not in teacher’s salaries, but that is another story. People from all over the nation studied and modeled the Iowa Public Education system. We were the standard. Students took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills or the Iowa Tests of Educational Development. Be like Mike? No. Be like Iowa!

Alas, this is not the Iowa we see today in education. So, what happened? Politics happened. One party, the Republican Party, more aptly named the “Party of Destruction,” decided attacking education would get them more votes. So they decided to fix education in Iowa, the gold standard for the country. They were going to “fix” something that was not broken.

Instead, they broke it.

First, legislators have consistently underfunded the public schools. State funding increased by less than the actual costs for schools. Maybe a half percent less or shorting schools a full percent, but it was always less than schools needed. Over time it became significant.

Another reason Iowa’s schools remain underfunded: the state relies on student enrollment to determine the funding schools receive. In rural Iowa, enrollments are almost universally declining.

To make ends meet, rural Iowa schools have to share, reorganize, or, in extreme cases, dissolve. Students are forced to drive or be driven more miles, and for longer, to get their education. That is a burden on rural families.

The parties have sparred over funding forever. It hurts rural and urban schools while benefiting the rich suburbs, university towns, and a few economic growth areas.

But the politics is the killer, and it is deliberate. It is destroying Iowa at its core by harming public education, especially in rural Iowa.

The Party of Destruction rails about imagined problems impacting public schools. They have virtually made teachers at-will employees. They have attacked teachers in every manner imaginable. It is not a coincidence teachers are in short supply in almost all disciplines. And their answer to a shortage created by low wages, poor benefits, and poor working conditions is to lower standards for admission to the teaching profession.

But the Party of Destruction’s latest knife to the throat of rural Iowa is Governor Kim Reynolds’ school voucher plan. It takes some of my tax dollars (why I am mad) and some of your tax dollars (why you should be mad) to give to parents of students enrolled in Iowa’s private (mostly parochial) schools. The Education Savings Account costs $7,826 per student for the coming year. That amount will increase every year, in line with per pupil state funding for public schools.

The hundreds of millions of dollars that fund this massive giveaway mostly don’t go to rural Iowans. Most of the funds go to the urban and suburban parents who send their kids to private schools that are relatively close to where they live.

It is welfare for the wealthy.

The estimated cost for the voucher scheme has proven to be very wrong. The first year of the program was supposed to cost the state about $107 million, but actually cost about $128 million. The cost for fiscal year 2025 (which begins in July) was originally projected to be $132.2 million but now is estimated at $179.2 million. That is total fiscal irresponsibility, but it rewards the Party of Destruction’s major donors. And it pleases the governor’s out-of-state donors.

What does this policy do to Iowa, particularly rural Iowa?

First, it shifts millions of your tax dollars to the suburban private and parochial schools. It is taking your taxes to benefit of a few. Secondly, it limits even further the available resources for your rural public schools. For the coming year, that’s $179 million (and growing) that could have been applied to the needs of public school. Third, more rural schools will close.

The Party of Destruction has imposed this boondoggle on Iowa citizens. One hundred percent of taxpaying Iowans are footing the bill for school vouchers. The policy benefits a small minority who already have withdrawn their students from public schools, and who mostly support the Party of Destruction. And there is zero accountability for how the money is spent.

State leaders have turned their back on rural Iowa by endangering its public school system. That is the Party of Destruction’s deliberate policy.

No one emulates Iowa education anymore.

Where has Iowa gone?