School choice becomes nationwide conservative priority

Iowa is the newest addition to a growing list of states that have publicly funded Education Savings Accounts that help support private education with almost no limits.

Arizona and West Virginia are the only other states that enacted similar legislation, but the movement is snowballing with almost a dozen other GOP-lead states having introduced similar legislation.

Nine GOP-led states, including Iowa, currently support these initiatives in some way, and seven more states have introduced legislation to achieve this goal.

Reynolds’ flagship legislative priority, the Students First Act, moved quickly through the Iowa House and Senate. It was signed into law three weeks after it was introduced by the governor on the second day of the 2023 legislative session. The bill passed with a slim majority in the Iowa House and Senate, as several Republicans joined Democrats in opposition to the legislation.

After signing the bill into law, Reynolds said the law aims to bring equity to private school access.

“Public schools are the foundation of our education system, and for most families, they will continue to be the option of choice, but they aren’t the only choice,” Reynolds said during the bill signing. “With this bill, every child in Iowa, regardless of zip code or income, will have access to the school best suited for them.”

Opponents of the legislation said the bill would take away money from public schools that aren’t fully funded due to the rising costs of inflation and stagnant growth in state funding. The law is estimated to cost $345 million a year once fully implemented in 2026, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency.

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