Republican State Rep. Megan Jones expressed concern about the bill providing Education Savings Accounts for Iowa families in an interview with KICD of Spencer.
Jones said that while Gov. Kim Reynolds and the conservative Iowa Senate want the bill to get done, the votes “just aren’t there in the House.”
“I myself have a lot of concerns about that bill too because I don’t think it’s going to impact any kids in our area,” Jones said.
She added she doesn’t want to see more money go to Des Moines.
She’s also worried it will be a “one-and-done” program without reliable, consistent funding from year to year.
“We’re expanding ourselves well beyond our means when we could only do 2.5 percent supplemental state aid for our public schools but now we’re going to bite off another huge chunk here and just increase that allotment. And I’m just not sure that we can carry that through,” Jones said.
Jones is the latest House Republican to publicly oppose the ESA effort — which is a main plank in the Republican Party of Iowa’s platform.
She joins Republican Representatives Dustin Hite, Holly Brink, Shannon Lundgren, Ross Paustian, Gary Mohr, Dennis Bush, Tom Moore, Chad Ingels, Jon Thorup and Dave Maxwell as House Republicans we know have publicly expressed opposition to Education Savings Accounts.
The last 2 sessions the legislature approved 100 mil increases. That is 200 mil increases in 2 years, rewarding a failing system. Teachers and administrators flipping off the legislators as they willfully ignore state law will most likely get another budget increase as they claim there just isn’t enough funding left for school choice! Pathetic! It is high time to replace these democrats that have disguised themselves as republicans!