Iowa GOP governor candidates debate education funding, abortion at first forum

JOHNSTON, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau)-Three Republican candidates for Iowa governor debated education policy and abortion at Iowa PBS, their first forum of the campaign.

The debate featured former Department of Administrative Services head Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state lawmaker Brad Sherman. Two other Republican candidates, Congressman Randy Feenstra and Zach Lahn, did not attend.

The candidates are running to replace Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is retiring.

All three candidates disagreed with Feenstra’s position that private schools should stop turning away students because of limited space or special needs, though they offered different explanations.

Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs, allow state funding to follow students to private schools.

Steen said Feenstra’s position on ESAs makes him sound like Democratic candidate Rob Sand. He said private schools should receive additional funding if they choose to accept students with special needs.

“I don’t think schools should be forced to receive who they want to receive,” Steen said. “Just because we have a situation right now in our family, we are not going to force a school to accept kids that they aren’t prepared for.”

Andrews voted for the ESA program in 2023. He said private schools are already working to accept more students with disabilities.

“I think most private schools want to accept those and are now looking to expand, change their infrastructure and certainly some of the larger ones are already doing that,” Andrews said.

Sherman said the focus should be on curriculum, not enrollment policies.

“The content of the education the children are getting, that’s why so many people are looking at ESAs because they are not satisfied with the education coming out of the public schools,” Sherman said.

All three candidates backed banning abortion altogether. Sherman said some women who receive abortions may need to be prosecuted. Steen said he wants to ban chemical abortions. Andrews said he wants more support for pregnant women.

The Republican primary is June 2. Rob Sand is the only Democratic candidate for governor.

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Isabella Warren covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email her at isabella.warren@kcrg.com; and follow her on Facebook at Isabella Warren TV on X/Twitter@isabellaw_gray, and on Instagram@IsabellaWarrenTV.