Maybe you have been following the news in Iowa on the private school voucher bill (HSB 651), which they are calling Education Savings Accounts to deflect some of the criticism. The bill passed through subcommittee on Tuesday and has been passed on to the House Education Committee.
Private schools in Iowa have a very organized lobby right now and the few are making a louder noise. We are also seeing more Representatives and Senators in Iowa sending their children to private school or homeschooling, than in the past so there is more sympathy for this discussion.
Please, contact your local House Representatives and/or Senators on this issue. When you do so, remember to thank them for their work and always be respectful by beginning your email with Honorable Representative_________, or Honorable Senator_________. It never does any good to attack or be negative. These are people elected to represent us on "The Hill" and they truly want to do a good job. And it's a tough job, so express your respect for their work whenever you contact them.
Below are some talking points that I believe have some merit and are being supported by the Public School lobbying groups:
- $52 million of all our tax money already goes to support non-public education for various reasons. (private school transportation costs, private school textbooks, tuition and textbook tax credit, etc..just to name a few)
- Special Educations services, AEA media services, and other AEA services that are going to support private schools are publicly funded.
- Students participating in Competent Private Instruction can utilize the publicly funded Iowa Connections Academy and Iowa Virtual Academy.
- Home School Assistance Programs are publicly funded through local school districts.
- Iowa public education has the 8th best education in the nation and rank #1 in high school graduation rates based on US News and World Report rankings. Yet we rank 40th in public school funding.
- If revenue is reduced through vouchers or private school savings credits, where will it be made up? Through further reduced or restricted public school and AEA funding.
- Taxpayer rules and transparency must follow the child. Public schools are funded by Iowa taxpayers, whether they have children attending school or not. Taxpayers have the right to expect those who choose to accept public funding follow the same rules and transparency required of public schools.
- Iowa performs better than any state with Education Savings Accounts (ESAs, also known as vouchers). Governor Reynolds cited data with Iowa ranked 8th in the nation in education. The 6 states with ESAs rank between 21st and 49th. Why would we follow down a failed path?
- ESAs do not address rural Iowans concerns. More than 76,000 Iowa students have NO private school option in their county to even use an ESA. They can't afford to have tax dollars taken away from their community schools to fund choice in other areas.
I have been in conversation and will continue to hold conversations with our local Reps and Senators but if they hear from teachers, parents and board members it is far more impactful. And the more contacts they get, the more it raises their awareness and right now the private school supporters are flooding some of them with contacts. Public school supporters need to take up that same tactic, now.
Feel free to copy and paste any of the above info or re-word it for your own use. You can locate your local Representative or Senators and their contact information at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find
I suggest emailing your Representative or Senator, as it only takes a few minutes. If you would like to call them, the House and Senate Switchboard is (515) 281-3221 If you call just ask for your senator or representative.
