Randy Richardson is a former educator and retired associate executive director of the Iowa State Education Association.
At long last the Iowa Department of Education released school enrollment numbers for the current school year on January 17. Public school enrollment took another dip this year as a total of 480,665 students attended Iowa schools. That’s a decrease of 3033.3 students from the previous year. Private schools, however, continued their growth with a total of 39,356 students. That’s an increase of 3,144 students or 8.7 percent from the previous year.
For years, private school enrollment decreased statewide. Since “Education Savings Accounts” (more commonly known as vouchers) have become widely available, that trend had reversed. Not only has enrollment increased, but more private schools have been opening statewide. This year saw an additional 21 accredited private schools open, bringing the total number of private schools to 211. Almost 80 percent of all private schools in the state saw enrollment gains. Compare that to public schools where only 36 percent saw an increase in enrollment.
A total of 27,866 Iowa students used a voucher to attend a private school as of October 1, 2024. That means that just over 70 percent of all students in attendance at a private schools used a voucher to cover the associated costs. The total cost of vouchers to the state for this school year will be $218,079,316. That’s roughly a 70 percent increase in spending for private schools from last year. For comparison’s sake, Governor Kim Reynolds recently announced that she was proposing a 2 percent increase in state funding for public K-12 schools.
The state doesn’t share the actual number of students receiving vouchers who already attended a private school. With a little calculation we can come up with a pretty close approximation, though.
The Department of Education numbers show that 1,905 students using a voucher attended a public school last year. We also know that the normal kindergarten enrollment in private schools hovers around 3,200 children, and that 3,960 kindergarten students used a voucher this year (an increase of 760). In 2023-24, 16,757 students used a voucher to attend a private school. This year the number was 27,866. That’s an increase of 11,109 students. Of that number 2,665 (1,905+760) were students who would typically attend a public school but opted to go to a private school instead.
That means some 76 percent of the vouchers went to students who were already enrolled at a private school.
Last year I estimated that 14,322 students received a voucher, even though they already attended a private school. If you combine that with the number we suspect are using a voucher even though they never planned to attend a public school, we come up with 22,776 students. If we divide that by the total number of students using a voucher during the current school year (27,866), we find that 81 percent of the students using a voucher in 2024-25 were already attending a private school.
Why are the numbers going up? It appears that there are two likely causes. One is the increase in the number of kindergarten students attending a private school. The other is a more liberal qualifying income.
As mentioned above, the state says 1,905 voucher participants attended an Iowa public K-12 school last year (2023-24). That’s actually down slightly from the previous year, when 2,135 students had attended a public school the previous year.
The department also noted that 3,960 entering kindergarten students used vouchers to attend a private schools. Prior to the availability of vouchers, roughly 3,200 kindergarten students in Iowa normally attended a private school each year. These numbers appear to show that more parents are opting to use vouchers to send very young children to private elementary schools.
It should also be noted that for the first year Iowa’s program was in effect, only families with net income (after deductions) up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level were eligible for vouchers. For the current year, families with income up to 400 percent of that level qualify. According to data obtained from the State Data Center, the median Income in Iowa for a family of four is $94,472.
Not all schools are feeling the impact of vouchers. According to the Department of Education’s website, 44 school districts didn’t have any students access a voucher to attend a private school. Those districts are mainly in rural parts of the state where no private schools exist.
That’s not the case in some of the more urban areas of the state. Bettendorf, Burlington, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Dubuque, Johnston, Muscatine, Perry, and Sioux City all had enrollment declines of more than 100 students. At least some of that can be attributed to increased participation in the voucher program.
Davenport saw an enrollment loss of 2,041 students. That district competes with fourteen private schools. Johnston, which for years was a rapidly growing district, saw a decline of 509 students. That represents a loss of nearly $4 million in state aid. Johnston competes with 22 private schools. Competition for students is particularly intense in the Des Moines metro. The Des Moines school district loses students to 32 private schools, while several suburban districts, in addition to Johnston, face competition from over 20 private schools.
Next year Iowa will have no income restrictions on voucher eligibility. Every student who wishes to attend a private school can receive state funding to pay for tuition, no matter how wealthy their family. The program’s cost will continue to skyrocket.
All of this will be taking place as state revenue is projected to drop in each of the next two fiscal years. All indications are that the farm economy is also slumping. The governor and Republican leaders have already indicated they plan to tap into the state surplus and use “one time money” to help cover budget shortfalls.
How long the state can continue to fund public schools at anywhere close to an adequate level while heaping resources on private schools is anyone’s guess.