***The Iowa Standard is an independent media voice. We rely on the financial support of our readers to exist. Please consider a one-time sign of support or becoming a monthly supporter at $5, $10/month - whatever you think we're worth! If you’ve ever used the phrase “Fake News” — now YOU can actually DO something about it! You can also support us on PayPal at [email protected] or Venmo at Iowa-Standard-2018 or through the mail at: PO Box 112 Sioux Center, IA 51250

The Iowa Senate passed Governor Reynolds’ “Student First Scholarship” Education Savings Account (ESA) bill on Wednesday. Despite Iowa having a long history of providing some help to parents looking for alternative options for their children, many families still don’t actually have a choice when they need or desire something different for their schooling due to their income. We believe that compulsory education must come with the ability for every Iowa parent and student to choose the educational setting that best meets their needs in order for the state to respect the role of parents as primary educators and caregivers.

This year, the Iowa House has the opportunity to join the Governor and the Iowa Senate in helping parents afford tuition at a Christian or other nonpublic school. We are asking you to contact your representative in support of additional parental choice in education today.

The bill that passed the Senate and is in the House for consideration is Senate File 2369. This is a conglomeration of a number of bills centering around parental rights and school choice.  We are primarily interested in the Student First Scholarship (Division II starting on page five of the current version of the bill) that would help public school students (including all incoming kindergarteners and students with IEPs) with a family income of less than 400% of the federal poverty level to access a portion of the money the state would normally spend on their child to pursue another option. There would be a limit of 10,000 scholarships statewide.  As written, this bill would not cost the state more money than it is already spending and we are convinced it will prove to save the state significant resources over time.

We encourage you to contact your Representative today and ask for support for Senate File 2369!  Rewrite the sample message in your own words from your own experience and remember to keep your comments positive. Make sure your words work together with the suggested verbiage in the other box, which is also editable and will be included – both boxes become one email sent to your representative.  Thank you for your help!

Act now to support the Governor’s “Student First Scholarship” proposal!

1 COMMENT

  1. Really??? ONLY 10,000 scholarships for 734000 students? Why?? And why are homeschoolers not eligible for a scholarship? And last I read, the scholarship is only $5000 per student. The schools get $14,000 -$17,000 per student. So they still get $9000-$12000 even if a student isn’t in the school system. So they don’t even have to educate the student who receives a scholarship. Wow, not bad pay for doing nothing for that student. What kind of motivation is that for public schools to improve. None. REALLY? The Governor and the Senate could not do better than this?

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here