The Department of Education granted the state to blend the funds from programs that support teacher quality, English learners, student enrichment and afterschool programs, a move that Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said will shift “nearly $8 million and thousands of hours of staff time from bureaucracy to actually putting that expertise and those resources in the classroom.”

During an in western Iowa town of Denison, Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the move a “groundbreaking first step that gives state leaders more control over federal education dollars.” 

The waiver, however, is not as expansive as what Reynolds, a Republican, originally floated when she announced the request in March. The funding flexibility only applies to the dollars the state manages, not federal funds going to districts, such as money for low-income students. 

Anne Hyslop, director of policy development at All4Ed, an advocacy group — and a former Education Department official — called the consolidation of funds for state activities “unprecedented,” but noted that the state scaled down after conversations with the department. “This is not the seismic shift in federal funding that perhaps was first contemplated in their original draft.”

The department also granted the state an , which releases districts from some requirements tied to federal programs and gives them more time to spend the money. But , both blue and red, already participate in that program.

The Iowa is one of six before the department. , for example, has asked for a similar block grant, while both Indiana and want to make changes to their accountability systems. Once McMahon grants one, it will be “hard to say no to another state that shows up with the same asks,” said Adam Schott, former acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education during the Biden administration.

  with the aim of reducing bureaucracy and giving states and districts more authority over spending has long been a Republican policy goal. Supporters argue that block grants are a more efficient way to address local issues and can reduce staff time spent on paperwork. But skeptics argue that the students whom Congress intended to help through specific programs could be shortchanged as states shift funds to other priorities. 

“I see how this could help to perhaps reduce redundancies, but at what expense?” asked Melissa Peterson, legislative and policy director for the Iowa State Education Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association. “We do have grave concerns that some of the various student populations may, quite frankly, not receive the services as intended.” 

Republicans pushed for education block grants almost as soon as Congress established the Department of Education. In 1981, the Reagan administration in the Chapter 2 block grant. But Congress kept cutting funds for the program, and . 

In 1998, the House passed the Dollars to the Classroom Act, another block grant. Conservatives liked the “political symbolism of getting Washington out of what has traditionally been a state role,” said Vic Klatt, who worked at the department during George H.W. Bush’s administration and then spent several years working on education policy for House Republicans. But no one, he said, ever wanted to get rid of the major programs, like Title I for high-poverty schools and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The bill died in the Senate.

‘The data collection burden’

Some school finance experts stress that the Every Student Succeeds Act, the primary education law, already offers a lot of flexibility to combine funds. But Catherine Pozniak, a consultant based in Louisiana who works with states on waiver requests, said agencies and districts still struggle to manage multiple programs. The “grievances” that Iowa and Indiana have expressed are real, she said.

“Flexibilities exist, but they are actually quite difficult to take advantage of,” she said. 

While the department didn’t waive requirements related to data collection and reporting, McMahon wrote in to the state that “the conversations between our staff have been informative and insightful regarding the data collection burden” on states and districts.

Jim Blew, co-founder of the conservative Defense of Freedom Institute, called the announcement a “remarkable breakthrough” and said he hopes all states would try to follow Iowa’s example. “One of the most burdensome parts of dealing with the Education Department is the reporting,” he said. The agency “just needs time to think through how allowing it in one state will impact others, but I’ll bet they are going to make that a priority.”

Schott challenged the argument that reporting how states are using federal funds is a waste of time.

 “One person’s compliance is another person’s accountability, transparency and general prudent treatment of funds,” he said. ​​”The reason you’ve got these discrete funding streams is not to make someone’s life difficult. It’s to make sure that marginalized student groups don’t have to fight and claw for the resources they’re going to need to access a high-quality education.”

In her comments during the event, McKenzie Snow, Iowa’s education chief, talked about using the flexibility to better train teachers to serve the state’s growing English learner population, which has increased by 40% over the past decade, she said. But Hyslop said the state has yet to “make a compelling case” for how the waiver would improve outcomes for those students.

For Snow, block grants are a familiar strategy. She served as an aide to former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos during Trump’s first administration. At the time, DeVos proposed  combining 29 programs into a $19.4 billion fund that would give states and districts more authority over how to spend the money. Democrats, who had control of the House at the time, didn’t support the idea, and e in both houses .

As Iowa’s chief, Snow asked the department to in the Perry Community School District following a 2024 at Perry High School that left two dead and six injured.

Schott said most of the waiver requests he received were due to similar tragedies or natural disasters that forced students to miss school. But he always urged states to work with regional education labs or other outside centers to evaluate how the changes they made affect students.

That will be more difficult, Hyslop said, due to the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize and shut down the Education Department.

“The department has fewer staff to monitor right now,” she said. “Understanding the impact of this is going to be really challenging.” 

After years of debate and a decisive election with school choice at center stage, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed her private school scholarship program into law Tuesday.

Students and staff of Iowa private schools gathered around the lectern in the Capitol rotunda as Reynolds and supporters celebrated passing the legislation, which less than 12 hours earlier. The governor thanked Republican lawmakers, “school choice” advocates and parents for their work in getting the bill through the legislative process.

“I urged the General Assembly to think big and to aim high, to ignore the hysteria that always accompanies school change,” Reynolds said. “In passing the Students First Act that is what you did, and I cannot think of a more worthy cause to aim high and dream big for than the future of our children.”

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The Iowa House and Senate spent nearly 10 hours debating the legislation, which Reynolds named as her top priority for the 2023 legislative session. The law establishes an education savings account (ESA) program for K-12 students, giving students an account of $7,598 each year to use for private school tuition and associated costs.

Starting the 2023-2024 school year, all kindergarteners, Iowa public school students and private school students with a family income of 300% or below the federal poverty line will be eligible to receive funds from the program. The income eligibility expands to 400% of the federal poverty line in the second year and there is no income limit starting in the third year.

While Republicans celebrated the victory, Democrats and public school advocates continued to express disappointment in the legislation. Democratic Sen. Claire Celsi of West Des Moines shouted, “Nobody wants vouchers!” from the rotunda balcony. She was drowned out by a standing ovation for the governor, who said, “We will never give up” on school choice legislation.

Critics said the legislation would harm public schools, especially those in rural areas. Iowa State Education Association President Mike Beranek said by passing the governor’s bill, legislators were ignoring their constituents’ wishes. Almost three-fourths of Iowa public schools are counties with no option for private schools, he said, and this legislation prioritizes private school students over the 92% of Iowa students in public schools.

“Make no mistake, this is not a war between public schools and private schools,” Beranek said in a statement. “It is a conflict between how taxpayer money is spent on private schools without equal access and no accountability or taxpayer oversight. Elected officials have a responsibility to serve all the people of our great state. This legislation serves just a few, with all the people’s money.”

But the governor said the bill helps Iowa’s public education system and teachers by allowing schools to put certain unspent categorical funds, such as dollars for talented and gifted programs, toward teacher salaries.

“We’re gonna continue to work with them and see if there’s other things that we can do to help so it’s not a one and done,” Reynolds told reporters. “We’re gonna continue to monitor it. Just make sure that we’re meeting the mark and doing what we intended.”

Estimates from the governor’s office and Legislative Services Agency estimate the program will cost $106.9 million in the upcoming fiscal year, and will cost roughly $345 million per year once income restrictions are fully phased out. But Democrats questioned whether the state will see additional costs when working with a third-party vendor to administer the program.

The governor said a request for proposals (RFP) on the program contract will be posted Tuesday, which will contain details on potential associated costs. It will also address concerns for transparency, she said. Other states with private school scholarship programs, , have had instances of educational companies or parents using state funds fraudulently.

The state’s contract will put “parameters in place” to give the state recourse if problems occur with Iowa’s program, she said.

“We’re going to make sure that cybersecurity is taken into account,” she said. “We want to make sure that we do have transparency and accountability in place, so that we can monitor it to make sure that there isn’t any fraud. And that’s why we’re really being very purposeful about issuing the RFP.”

The ESA program is not the end of the road for Republicans’ education reform goals this session. Reynolds also highlighted in her a renewed push for “parental rights” in public schools, calling for increased transparency measures such making all class materials and student records accessible to parents.

House Republicans have also focused on curriculum and LGBTQ+ issues in Iowa public schools. Proposals include requiring school districts to get written consent from a child’s parent or guardian before providing any accommodations in using a transgender student’s preferred name or pronouns, as well as banning instruction or material on sexual orientation or gender identity to students in kindergarten through third grade.

Republicans brought up LGBTQ+ issues in public schools as a reason why parents demanded alternatives to Iowa’s public school system in the ESA program debates Monday. Sen. Jesse Green, R-Boone, said some Iowa public schools’ policies, such as letting transgender children use the restrooms and locker rooms which match their gender identity, prevent Iowans from having their children educated “without violating their values.”

“If we can’t trust some of our public schools on biology in the bathroom, what makes us believe that we can trust those same schools on biology in the classroom?” Green said. “… Yet on something so fundamental is basic biology, (parents) currently have no choice in public schools.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on and .

As Democrats argue Gov. Kim Reynolds’ private school scholarship program would take away funding from Iowa’s public schools, Republicans are pointing to the governor’s proposed budget as proof that support for Iowa’s K-12 system remains strong.

Reynolds is proposing a budget of nearly $8.5 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, an increase over the current year of roughly $300 million. More than half of the state spending proposed is for education.

Over the next four years, the education savings account (ESA) program would cost $918 million, according to estimates by the governor’s office. Democrats and public school advocates say that is nearly $1 billion in state funds being diverted from public schools, but Republicans argue that it is new, unrelated spending.

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In the same four year period, the state is estimated to spend $15.2 billion on public education, with expectations of increasing K-12 spending by roughly 2.5% each year. But Democrats said that Iowa has underfunded education for years, and that the money put toward the governor’s plan should go toward filling funding gaps in public schools.

Margaret Buckton, a lobbyist with the Urban Education Network and the Rural School Advocates of Iowa, told legislators Wednesday that Iowa’s education spending has lagged inflation for both per-pupil costs and the cost of “doing the business of school” in the past decade.

“Our major concern is a program like this, that phases in over four years with hundreds of millions of dollars of obligation on part of the state, that hits the balance sheet exactly when the historic tax cuts of last year reduce state revenues by 1.8 billion, means that our school districts are concerned there will never be increases in the state cost per-pupil adequate to provide the programs that our students in public schools need,” Buckton said.

Grassley said no matter how much money the Legislature designates for state supplemental aid to public schools, Democrats will always say its not enough.

“That’s a consistent argument that we’ve always faced,” Grassley said. “We’re spending more money on public education now than we ever have in the history of this state. … Clearly we’ve made it a priority as part of our budgets, I don’t see (ESAs) being one of those things that is a drain on that.”

Other priorities for 2023

While her private school scholarship program is a central focus this year, Reynolds has also announced plans to restructure Iowa’s system of government agencies and departments as well as enacting policies she said will help rural health care systems, from funding obstetrics fellowships to tort reform.

Here are some takeaways in the governor’s proposed budget for fiscal 2024, which begins July 1, 2023:

Overall spending: Reynolds is recommending Iowa increase its net spending from an estimated $8.2 billion in 2023 to nearly $8.5 billion in FY 2024. That 3.3% growth is greater than the previous year’s estimated growth of less than 1%. The rise was higher than in previous years because of increased federal aid disbursements, but the state government will still leave nearly $2 billion unspent from Iowa’s general fund budget.

Property taxes: A notable omission from Reynolds’ Condition of the State address and proposed budget was changes to Iowa’s property tax code, which legislative Republicans have highlighted as their tax policy focus in 2023. Replacements for property tax revenue were not included in Reynolds’ budget proposal this year, but Grassley said tax policy changes are typically one of the areas that take the most time for the Legislature to work through.

“I hope we didn’t build a false expectation of tax policy that it’s done immediately in every session that we did last year,” Grassley said. “… I think you’re gonna see us hopefully fund some bills sooner than later as well, that are going to begin that conversation around property tax.”

Reynolds did say she hopes to improve the “affordability of child care through property tax parity” for both commercial and in-home care providers, but did not mention other potential property tax reforms.

Education: More than half, 56.4%, of Reynolds’ proposed budget is appropriated to education.

Private school scholarships: The private school scholarship proposal Reynolds laid out as her top priority for this year’s session is built into her budget. She has allocated $106.9 million for the education savings accounts, or ESA, program, in its first year. The governor’s office calculated that amount using data on how many Iowa kindergarteners are enrolled in private schools and how many current private school students are under 300% of the federal poverty line. The governor’s office based its estimate on the assumption that about 1% of public school students in grades 1-12 are likely to transfer.

State aid:  The budget overall includes a 2.5% increase in funding for K-12 public schools. That includes an $82 million increase for the State Foundation School Aid and over $700,000 more for the transportation equity fund, but no other changes in PK-12 spending from the current fiscal year.

Higher education: The Iowa Board of Regents asked the Legislature to for the state’s three public universities, but Reynolds’ proposal would allocate less than half that amount, granting a $12.5 million increase. That’s more than the Regents received in previous years, but board members said they this year to both keep up with inflation and make up for underfunding in previous appropriations cycles.

Agency consolidation: The governor also said she plans to take on a major internal project for Iowa’s government: restructuring the state’s system of agencies, with a planned consolidation from 37 to 16 cabinet-level departments. While she said this would not result in loss of funding or services, she said the government would save money through combining offices, selling land and cutting full-time equivalent positions that are currently vacant. The governor’s office estimates its reorganization will save Iowa more than $214 million in the course of four years, with an estimated $73.5 million in savings in  year one.

Rural health care: As the state continues to struggle with workforce shortages, Reynolds proposed expanding Iowa’s existing apprenticeship programs for in-demand fields that require training. A large focus was on the state’s Iowa Health Careers Registered Apprenticeship Program, which said will expand to cover more nursing programs, EMR, EMT, and paramedic and direct care professional certification, as well as behavioral health training. This expansion would be met with an increase in funding from $3 million to $15 million, the governor proposed.

Iowa also faces a shortage of OB-GYN health care providers specifically. The governor announced her plans to use $560,000 to fund four obstetrics fellowships for family medicine physicians, who would be required to commit to practicing in rural and underserved communities for five years following the fellowship.

Additionally, Reynolds called for the creation of two new regional “Centers of Excellence,” health care providers in rural Iowa that provide specialized services from cancer treatment, maternal health programs and surgery. Her budget would provide $575,000 to fund the new centers.

Abortion alternatives: While Reynolds and Republican leadership have said they plan to hold off on further abortion legislation until the Iowa Supreme Court makes a decision in the state’s law banning the procedure after six weeks, Reynolds did say she plans to increase funding available for abortion alternative organizations this year. Reynolds called for growing the “More Options for Maternal Support,” or MOMS program funding from $500,000 to $2 million.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on and .

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says she will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that enables school districts to impose universal mask mandates on students and staff.

“As I’ve said all along, whether a child wears a mask to school is up to the parents, not the government,” Reynolds said in a written statement. “I will appeal this ruling so that Iowa families have the right to decide what’s best for their children.”

In May 2021, Reynolds signed legislation prohibiting school districts from imposing mask mandates on staff and students. That brought by the parents of children who have disabilities or chronic health conditions that put them at greater risk of complications if they contract COVID-19.

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The parents alleged the state was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by making it impossible for school districts to make reasonable accommodations for their children through the imposition of mask mandates.

An preventing the enforcement of the new law, but Reynolds appealed that decision. Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the injunction, noting that COVID-19 conditions in classrooms had changed since the beginning of the pandemic.

That ruling focused only on the injunction and not on the broader issue of the law’s legality. Litigation over that issue continued and on Tuesday, a federal judge again ruled in favor of the parents, noting that doctors for three students had recommended the students’ teachers and classmates be masked.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on and .