Iowa

County breakdown of Iowa voucher program

Published

10 months 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 Farmers Were Able to Get in the Fields More Last Week – Storm Lake Radio

Published

4 hours ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

Iowa Farmers Were Able to Get in the Fields More Last Week – Storm Lake Radio

Scattered showers last week resulted in Iowa farmers having 3.8 days suitable for fieldwork, with 3.7 days available in northwest Iowa.

According to the USDA Crop Progress Report, Iowa farmers continued planting corn and soybeans last week, and were also cutting hay. Some replanting has occurred due to drowned-out areas in fields.

78 percent of Iowa’s expected corn crop has been planted, which is eight days behind last year and four days behind the five-year average. 82 percent of northwest Iowa corn has been planted. 47 percent of corn statewide has emerged, which is two days behind last year, but equal to normal.

61 percent of the expected soybean crop has been planted across the state, which is one week behind last year and two days behind normal. 59 percent of northwest Iowa soybeans have been planted. Nearly a quarter of soybeans statewide have emerged, which is three days behind last year, but equal to the average.

Just two percent of northwest Iowa topsoil is short of moisture, with 65 percent adequate, and 33 percent surplus. Only five percent of northwest Iowa subsoil is short of moisture, with 72 percent adequate, and 23 percent surplus.

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Iowa

One vetoed bill exposed four big flaws in Iowa legislature's work

Published

11 hours ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

One vetoed bill exposed four big flaws in Iowa legislature's work

Transparency advocates found something to celebrate in Governor Kim Reynolds’ final bill signings on May 17. The governor rejected House File 2539—her only veto of the Iowa legislature’s 2024 session—due to language that would have created an “enormous loophole” in the open meetings law, experts inside and outside state government warned.

Drafting a better bill to strengthen penalties for open meetings violations should be easy, if Iowa lawmakers return to the topic in 2025.

But fixing the process that allowed such a poorly-worded bill to reach the governor’s desk would be a tall order. Because while House File 2539 suffered a unique fate, its journey through the legislature illustrated broader problems with how the GOP-controlled House and Senate do business.

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