Iowa

County breakdown of Iowa voucher program

Published

1 year ago

August 7, 2023

County breakdown of Iowa voucher program

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – 3 of Iowa’s 99 counties have zero approved applications to take part in the state’s first year of a school voucher program called Educational Savings Accounts, highlighting a criticism of the plan.

Iowa’s Department of Education says it has approved 18,627 applications for the ESAs under Governor Kim Reynolds’ Students First plan and provided a county-by-county breakdown showing where those students live. Under that plan, students attending a private school will get up to $7,500 each to use for tuition or select other educational services. The plan is meant to increase school choice in Iowa but critics argued it pulls money away from public schools without enough state oversight on how private schools use those tax dollars.

Of the 18,627 applications approved, the majority were in Iowa’s most populated counties, including:

3,144 in Polk County
1,318 in Linn County
1,306 in Scott County
1,183 in Sioux County
942 in Black Hawk County
916 in Woodbury
882 in Dubuque County
572 in Johnson County
505 in Dallas County
427 in Carroll County

Besides being the most populous, those counties also have the highest number of private schools accredited with the state.

Three counties – Decatur, Louisa and Ringgold – had zero applications approved. That highlights an issue critics had highlighted in pushing back against the ESA plan as those are three of the counties in Iowa without a single private school. Critics argued that the concentration of private schools in urban areas would hurt rural areas unable to take advantage of the program. That issue pushed some Republican lawmakers to block Governor Reynolds’ plan in 2022. Governor Reynolds successfully pushed primary candidates to unseat many of those GOP lawmakers that fall, clearing the way for her ESA plan to pass quickly in the first few days of the 2023 legislative session.

However, the data also undermines that criticism as the majority of counties in Iowa without an accredited private school still have kids approved for the ESA program, even if in far fewer numbers.

The Iowa Department of Education says less than 1,000 applications are still under review, in addition to the 18,627 already approved. Once approved, students need to be accepted to attend a private school by September 30th. If they do not find a seat in a private school, the ESA will not be funded.

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Iowa

Iowa 104-57 New Orleans (Dec 15, 2024) Game Recap – ESPN

Published

3 hours ago

December 16, 2024

Press Room

Iowa 104-57 New Orleans (Dec 15, 2024) Game Recap – ESPN

IOWA CITY, Iowa — — Owen Freeman matched his career-best with 22 points and Iowa cruised to a 104-57 win over New Orleans on Sunday.

The Hawkeyes rebounded from their first home-court loss, falling 89-80 to No. 3 Iowa State on Thursday in the annual Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.

Brock Harding opened the game with a 3-pointer, but the Privateers answered with back-to-back layups from MJ Thomas and James White to take their only lead of the game, 4-3. Freeman answered with a layup and Payton Sandfort and Drew Thelwell each hit from deep to put Iowa in front for good and a 10-0 run made it 29-11 midway through the half.

Iowa (8-3) shot 62.7% from the field for the game (42 of 67), including 14 of 29 from beyond the arc. The Hawkeyes amassed 28 assists on 42 made baskets. Sandfort hit 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and finished with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal. Josh Dix and Brock Harding each added 13 points, with Harding collecting six assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Pryce Sandfort added 10 points off the bench.

New Orleans, playing its first game in more than a week, was 25 of 67 from the field (37.3%) and was just 4 of 24 from long range. White paced the Privateers (2-7) with 24 points, six rebounds and two assists. Thomas added 14 points.

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Iowa

Iowa women’s wrestling crowns three champions at North Central College Open

Published

11 hours ago

December 15, 2024

Press Room

Iowa women’s wrestling crowns three champions at North Central College Open

Iowa women’s wrestling took a good portion of its squad to the North Central Open on Sunday, securing three individual titles from Nanea Estrella, Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker.

Bringing 13 wrestlers to the top division of the tournament, with Danni Swihart competing in the B-Division, 11 Hawkeyes finished on the podium in the top division. Even without several starters, the Hawkeyes took second behind only North Central’s mostly full squad.

Iowa’s stars who made the trip to Naperville, Illinois shined, as Estrella, Kilty and Welker combined to go 14-0. They outscored their opponents 131-1 combined.

Alivia White was a surprise, racing to take second at 203 pounds. She defeated teammate Katja Osteen by fall on her way to the finals. Even without Jaycee Foeller, the Hawkeyes had White, Osteen and Samantha Calkins all place at the tournament at 203 pounds.

Accounting for only the results from the A-Division, which housed top wrestlers from each team, North Central had 166.5 team points to Iowa’s 136.5.

It’s hard to compare Iowa and North Central, given the Hawkeyes and CArdinals had limited lineups. The Hawkeyes were without Sterling Dias, Brianna and Emilie Gonzalez, Skye Realin, Reese Larramendy, Kennedy Blades and Foeller to name a few. North Central did not have former Hawkeye Bella Mir or 203-pound No. 2 Traeh Haynes for example as well.

Regardless, having two champions and five finalists suggests the Cardinals will be a challenger once again come the postseason to the Hawkeyes.

Here are the individual results for each wrestler for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa women’s wrestling results from North Central Open

Rianne Murphy – 2nd at 103 pounds (3-1)
Val Solorio – 3rd at 110 pounds (5-1)
Cali Leng – 6th at 124 pounds (3-3)
Ava Rose – DNP at 124 pounds (1-2)
Allie Baudhuin – DNP at 131 pounds (1-2)
Emmily Patneaud – 6th at 131 pounds (2-3)
Nanea Estrella – 1st at 138 pounds (4-0)
Cadence Diduch – 3rd at 138 pounds (5-1)
Danni Swihart (B-Division) – 5th at 138 pounds (3-2)
Macey Kilty – 1st at 145 pounds (4-0)
Kylie Welker – 1st at 180 pounds (6-0)
Samantha Calkins – 4th at 207 pounds (4-2)
Alivia White – 2nd at 207 pounds (3-1)
Katja Osteen – 5th at 207 pounds (3-2, 3-1 vs. non-Hawkeyes)

Match-by-match results can be found on trackwrestling.com

This story was updated to add new information.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.

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Iowa State football lands two wide receivers from transfer portal

Published

18 hours ago

December 15, 2024

Press Room

Iowa State football lands two wide receivers from transfer portal

Iowa State football brought in some talent on Saturday.

The Cyclones landed two wide receivers from the NCAA transfer portal in Chase Sowell (East Carolina) and Xavier Townsend (UCF).

They both have two years of eligibility remaining.

Here’s some information on the two newcomers:

Chase Sowell stats

2024 (9 games): 34 catches, 678 yards, 3 TDs
2023 (11 games): 47 catches, 622 yards, 1 TD
2022 (1 game): 2 catches, 23 yards

The 6-4, 195-pound wideout enjoyed his best career season in 2024 despite missing three games due to injury, according to 247Sports.

Most impressively, he increased his average yards per reception by 6.7 to 19.9, indicating he can be a big-play threat for the Cyclones.

His best stretch in 2024 came in the middle of the season in back-to-back games against Temple and Army, in which Sowell combined for 11 catches and 255 yards with two scores.