Iowa
Iowa auditor: School choice deal hiked cost without justification
DES MOINES — The Iowa Department of Education did not follow proper procedures when amending a contract with the company that administers the private school choice program — a move that will increase costs significantly, State Auditor Rob Sand said Tuesday.
In response, the Education Department said that even with the increased costs, the contract represented the lowest bid for administering the program and was a significant savings compared with other competitors.
Sand, a Democrat, released a report detailing his office’s inquiry into the contract with Odyssey, a company that manages programs like Iowa’s that allow students to use public funds to pay for tuition at private schools.
Iowa’s education savings account program allows students to use the full per-pupil state funding that would go to their public school district to instead pay for private school tuition and other costs. More than 30,000 Iowa students have been approved for the coming school year.
According to Sand’s report, the amended contract, which previously was not disclosed publicly, is expected to more than double the original annual cost to the state for Odyssey to administer the program by fiscal 2026.
“The cost to Iowa taxpayers for the administration of the school vouchers program has doubled with no apparent justification for it whatsoever,” Sand told reporters. “This is a contract that was signed just a couple of months after the original contract was signed, and still today there has been no justification provided whatsoever.”
A spokesperson for Odyssey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iowa selected Odyssey in a competitive bidding process in April 2023 to administer the state’s ESA program. The initial contract was for three years, with three optional annual extensions, and totaled $4.3 million for the six-year period. The annual cost to administer the program initially was listed at $730,000 by year two of the contract.
The administration cost is a small piece of the overall cost of the ESA program, which cost the state $128 million in the last fiscal year and is expected to increase to at least $345 million by the 2026-27 school year.
Amendment ramped up costs
Sand’s report said the contract was amended in July 2023, three months after it was approved, to include new variable fees. One those fees calls for Odyssey to be paid 25 basis points — or 0.25 perecnt — of the total amount paid out as a “qualified education expense” that includes tuition and fees, textbooks, tutoring and certain supplies.
That payment, according to estimates by Sand’s office, will increase the cost to administer the ESA program by hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. It will likely double the annual cost of the contract by fiscal 2026, Sand said.
Sand said the Education Department did not follow proper policy to amend the contract.
According to the report, the department’s policy requires a document describing the need to modify the agreement and requires the Bureau of Accounting to review and approve any contract amendments. The report said the amendment was not formally approved by the Bureau of Accounting until July 12, the same day the department provided the documentation to Sand’s office and six months after Sand requested it.
The department also did not include an explanation of the need for the amendment, but did say it estimated the cost increase for years two and three to be $540,500.
The audit report also said Odyssey proposal to qualify for the contract said it planned to open an office in Des Moines. The company later said it had secured temporary accommodations and listed the address of the Iowa Capitol building.
“There does not appear to be any legitimate means to make this claim,” Sand’s report says. “However, based on documentation provided, this claim was not questioned by those reviewing the proposals.”
Department says Odyssey kept costs low
In a written statement, Iowa Department of Education spokesperson Heather Doe said the transaction fees added in the amendment are a necessary part of any e-commerce platform and were far lower than other competitors. She said the state “conducted a thorough evaluation” to determine whether the added costs would remain competitive.
Other vendors administering ESAs charge a 2.5 percent transaction fee compared to Odyssey’s 0.25 percent, Doe said. Doe said the department estimates the transaction fees in the first year would cost about $300,000, bringing the total to about $985,000.
“Even with the additional transaction fee costs, Odyssey’s costs were nearly four times lower than the next closest competitor,” Doe said.
The state received one other viable bid to administer the program from a company called Merit, Doe said. Merit would have charged $8 million over the first three years of the contract. The cost for Odyssey, including transaction fee estimates, is expected to be about $3.7 million over the first three years, Doe said.
Doe also said the department will ensure it has documentation of contract approvals going forward. “Processes can always be improved upon and the Department of Education notified the Office of the Auditor of State that it will have documentation of all relevant approvals at the time of execution moving forward, which was also accepted by the Auditor of State,” Doe said.
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement that the transaction fees added to the contract should not be passed on to ESA families. She also pointed to the cost difference between Odyssey and Merit’s proposal.
“I’m proud of the work that Director (McKenzie) Snow and the department have done to establish one of the leading school choice programs in the country, and I look forward to the start of its second year,” Reynolds said.
Here are the candidates for High School on SI’s Iowa high school athlete of the week for April 13-18. Read through the nominees and cast your vote.
Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 26. The winner will be announced in the following week’s poll. Here are this week’s nominees:
Taylor Roose, Pella boys track and field
Roose competed in three events at the Norwalk Invitational, winning all three in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump.
Daxon Kiesau, Urbandale boys track and field
Kiesau swept the throwing events at the Norwalk Invitational, taking first place in the shot put and the discus.
Alex Burger, Southeast Valley boys track and field
Competing at home, Burger dominated, earning four gold medals. He won the 400-meter hurdles and the long jump while running on the winning 4×200-meter relay and shuttle hurdle relay.
Kolby Hodnefield, Clear Lake boys track and field
Hodenfield, a defending state champion, broke the meet, venue and school record in the 200 and the 400 at the Clear Lake Invitational. He added victories as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Both relays also set meet records.
Easton Moon, North Polk boys tennis
Moon has started off his senior season on the courts unbeaten, winning all four matches while dropping just one game in 44 played.
Ava Lohrbach, Gilbert girls golf
One of the top golfers in the state, Lohrbach has had a hot start, firing a 35 in her nine-hole debut and a 72 for her 18-hole opener.
Nathan Manske, Algona boys golf
An elite quarterback and basketball player, Manske is showing his golfing skills this spring, coming out with a state-low 30 in a nine-hole event.
Ella Hein, Tipton girls track and field
Hein set school records in the 400-meter run and long jump at the Tiger/Tigerette Relays while also locking in the Blue Standard and qualifying for the Drake Relays. She won the long jump (18-6) and was second in the 400.
Maeve Bowen-Burt, Iowa City High girls track and field
The sophomore helped the Little Hawks land three Drake Relays events on the last night of qualifying, advancing in the 400 hurdles, along with the sprint medley and 4×400 relays.
About Our Athlete of the Week Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.
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The late boxing great George Foreman lies buried in a cemetery in the northwestern corner of Iowa – a place he has no connection to outside of a lone visit to the region nearly 40 years ago.
Foreman died March 21, 2025, at the age of 76 in Houston and was buried in Logan Park Cemetery at Sioux City, Iowa, a month later, city officials confirmed. Foreman’s family returned Thursday to his burial site, holding a news conference with Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott to reveal Foreman’s burial place, marked by a large monument that bears an image of him as a teen following his Olympic gold medal boxing win.
The family explained in a statement released by Sioux City officials that he had visited the Iowa city in 1988, and often recalled the sense of peace he experienced there.
After traveling to the city on April 17 last year to bury Foreman, his family said they immediately understood the region’s appeal.
“Our father lived a life of purpose, faith and gratitude,” the family said in a statement released by Sioux City officials. “To see him laid to rest in a place that brought him peace means everything to us.”
Scott joined the family at Foreman’s monument that lies just a few miles north of the Missouri River in an upper Midwest city of nearly 87,000 people. The cemetery overlooks the scenic Loess Hills, created by windblown silt deposits that reach up to 200 feet high (about 61 meters) and line the river along the Iowa border for 200 miles (322 kilometers).
“Their story is a reminder of how one place can stay with someone for a lifetime,” Scott said.
A native Texan, Foreman rose to fame when he made the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team, winning gold in Mexico City. He became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1973 by defeating the great Joe Frazier, only to lose the title a year later to Muhammad Ali in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”
A full 20 years later in 1994, Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at 45, defeating Michael Moorer in an epic upset.
Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.
He then moved on to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor, becoming known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing.
A biographical movie based on Foreman’s life was released in 2023.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) — About 50 Iowans braved the threat of severe storms to hear from Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn at his town hall in Dubuque Friday night.
Lahn, a farmer and businessman, said his campaign is about solving the long-term systemic issues facing Iowans.
One priority is addressing what Lahn calls a cancer crisis in Iowa, as the state has the second-highest cancer rate in the country. Solving the crisis means ensuring Iowans have access to clean, nitrate-free drinking water, working with farmers to reduce agricultural runoff.
“Iowans are just ready for something that they should be able to count on, like clean drinking water,” Lahn said. “We have ways to clean up the drinking water in Iowa that isn’t on the backs of farmers, but is working alongside with them because they’re drinking the water too, and they want to do what’s right.”
Lahn also wants to stop Iowa’s “brain drain,” as more of Iowa’s college graduates left the state for opportunities elsewhere.
“Don’t leave! Give me some time! I’m going to fight to keep you here,” Lahn said. “I was one of these kids. I thought I had to leave the state to find something better. We have to prioritize Iowa’s incentive dollars to make sure they’re going to grow Iowa businesses that are going to be here for the long haul, so our kids have places to work.”
Running a distinct campaign feels challenging this election, as Lahn is one of five GOP candidates who want to be Iowa’s next governor, facing U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, former Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman.
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand is the only Democrat running for the state’s top office.
Lahn said he stands out by promising Iowa will be for Iowans, pledging to ban the use of eminent domain for private gain and tax out-of-state landowners and data centers at higher rates to lower property taxes.
“It always goes back to follow the money, so when it comes to not being a weak-kneed Republican today, I believe the paramount piece of that is answering only to the citizens of Iowa, not to special interests to pad their bottom line, but what’s best for the people of Iowa,” Lahn said.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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