According to enrollment data released by the Iowa Department of Education on Friday, 16,757 students used Iowa’s new Educational Savings Accounts to pay for private school during the current school year.

The program passed in early 2023 after an expedited legislative consideration that took two weeks to pass due to opposition from both parties.

The program received almost 30,000 applications, according to a July news release from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’s office. The legislation was introduced by Reynolds in January 2023 during her Condition of the State Address budgeted for 14,000 accounts.

At $7,635 per student, vouchers cost the state approximately $127.9 million. Under the law Iowa school districts would be given $1,205 for every private school student that attends private school within their district’s borders, however, schools would lose the $7,600 in per-pupil funding if students transfer to private school.

Approximately, 12.7 percent, or over 2,000 applicants previously attended public school with over a third, or 33.7 percent of applicants having never attended private school before.

Under the law, current public school students, kindergarten students, and private school families that make less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible.

Next year, private school students whose families make 400 percent or less of the federal poverty level will be eligible.

Once fully implemented in all of Iowa’s nonpublic schools, K-12 students would be eligible to receive the accounts, no matter their income level, and it is estimated to cost $345 million annually.

The state also saw a less than half-percent decrease in certified enrollment for Iowa’s public schools and a 7.4 percent increase in enrollment for private schools.