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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