Iowa
Over 30K Iowa students OK’d for education savings accounts
DES MOINES — More than 30,000 Iowa students have been approved for a state program to use state dollars to pay private school tuition in the upcoming school year, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Friday.
The numbers indicate an increase of more than 11,000 students from the 2023-24 school year. It’s about 10,000 more than the nonpartisan legislative services agency estimated would participate when the law was passed in 2023.
The Republican governor made the announcement at the annual Family Leadership Summit hosted by the conservative evangelical organization The Family Leader during a conversation with Betsy DeVos, the former U.S. secretary of education under then-President Donald Trump.
The state received 35,417 applicants for the program before the June 30 deadline, Reynolds’ spokesperson Kollin Crompton said. Applications are still being reviewed, but more than 30,000 have been approved so far.
Approved students will be able to use their full per-pupil state funding to pay for tuition at an accredited private school. Not all of those students may end up attending a private school with the funds. If a student does not attend a private school, the account is closed and the money remains with the state.
During the conference, DeVos praised Reynolds’ push to pass the education savings account program. Reynolds endorsed primary challengers to Republicans who opposed a narrower version of the plan in 2022, many of which lost their primaries to candidates who supported the program.
“She really did set a new tone when taking on members of her party who refused to make that step to give families more power,” DeVos said. “And it was not without a lot of difficulty and a lot of political capital, shall we say. But clearly she knew where her constituents in Iowa were and are on that subject.”
Reynolds said the COVID-19 pandemic, when instruction was moved primarily online and parents had a closer view of educational instruction, solidified her support for private school choice initiatives.
She said the program will give families who otherwise could not afford private school the opportunity to send students to a school that best fits their needs. About 60 percent of the approved applicants last year already attended private school, while 40 percent were public school students.
“We had school choice prior to this … but it was only if you had the means to do that,” Reynolds said. “And that is just not right. It’s not fair. And so I forged on a mission to get things turned around.”
Reynolds said she believes her education policies will improve public schools as well as private schools. She pointed to open enrollment changes, a teacher salary increase and literacy standards passed in this year’s legislative session as examples of improvements to public schools under her administration.
The education savings account program was Reynolds’ top policy priority in 2023, and one of several education changes she has pursued in recent years as governor. The program cost the state about $128 million last budget year.
This year, Reynolds signed a bill into law that overhauls the state’s area education agencies, which provide special education support to Iowa school districts. The law also increased the minimum teacher salary to $50,000 by the 2025-26 school year.
Under the law, funding that now goes to the AEAs will eventually go directly to school districts, and they will need to contract with the AEAs to provide special education services. AEA funding for media and other education services will go directly to the school districts, which can spend it on any general fund purpose outside the AEAs.
Reynolds calls DeVos role model
DeVos served as the U.S. secretary of education under Trump from 2017 to 2021. She is a strong proponent of private school choice policies and has led several conservative education think tanks.
Reynolds said DeVos has been a role model for her and said she was inspired by DeVos’ work as secretary of education.
“You never backed away from your beliefs or what you went there to do and I thought if she can do this at the federal level, I could do this at the state level,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds in May denied suggestions, first reported in the Daily Caller, that she was interested in serving as secretary of education in a potential second Trump administration.
The conservative outlet attributed an unnamed spokesperson who said Reynolds may be interested in the position. But Reynolds said the report “mistook the way I talk about education” as being interested in the job.
“I am passionate about education. I’m proud of what we’re doing,” Reynolds said at the time. “I mean, it started with STEM, it started with registered apprenticeship programs, literacy, parental choice. So I’ve got a lot of work to do as governor.”
Democrats have opposed many of Reynolds’ education policies, saying they will weaken public schools and funnel taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private institutions. In a statement, Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, said the Iowa GOP has gone too far in its education policies.
“Iowans are sick and tired of politics. Governor Reynolds celebrating her voucher bill with billionaire Betsy DeVos and the special interests today is a huge reason why,” Konfrst said in a statement. “Iowans overwhelmingly oppose vouchers because public money is for public education. They don’t want more public schools to close and they sure don’t want their kids to lose access to special education services.”
With June rapidly finishing up, that means the Iowa high school softball season is preparing to enter the stretch run of the year.
The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union State Softball Tournament will begin Monday, July 20, in Fort Dodge at Rogers Park, bringing together many of the top teams and players in the state. High School On SI Iowa currently provides a Top 25 state softball power rankings, so now, we need to see who the top players are.
Below are the nominees for the High School On SI Iowa Class 1A Softball Midseason Player of the Year in each classification. Stats listed with the player are from Bound and based on those numbers imputed as of June 26, 2026 at noon CT.
Feel free to vote as many times as you like, with voting set to close on Friday, July 3, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. CT.
High School On SI Iowa Class 1A Softball Midseason Player Of The Year Nominees
Rachel Eglseder, Edgewood-Colesburg, Senior
Eglseder owns a 16-5 record, striking out 225 batters with a 1.66 earned run average while adding 11 extra-base hits and 40 RBI at the plate.
Rylee Mudderman, Kee, Junior
Mudderman continues to be a difficult out, batting .488 this season with two homers, 11 doubles and four triples. She has driven in 38 and scored 35 times, stealing 10 bases.
Faith Shirbroun, St. Edmond, Senior
Speaking of tough outs, Shirbroun owns a batting average of .606 this season, recording seven homers, 17 doubles and five triples. She has driven in 36 and scored 37 times, stealing 22 bases while setting several school records for hitting.
Sydney Lovrien, Clarksville, Senior
The ace for the defending state champions, Lovrien is 13-5 with 100 strikeouts in 86 innings pitched. She also has 23 hits and 21 RBI at the plate.
Sam Kruckenberg, Mason City Newman Catholic, Senior
A veteran now, Kruckenberg owns an 18-4 record with 227 strikeouts and a 1.23 earned run average. She is batting .440 with five homers, 11 doubles and 23 RBI at the plate.
About Our Midseason Player of the Year 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 Iowa chapter of the Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA) officially opened a new facility on its 80-acre demonstration farm in Marshall County Thursday.
Iowa LICA President Scott Bohle said having classroom and meeting space will make it easier to educate the next generation of professional contractors, along with government employees, lawmakers and students, to help conserve soil and water in the state.
Bohle said the building “gives people a place to gather, collaborate and continue the important work that defines our association.”
Just outside the new space are wetlands, terraces, sediment control basins, bioreactors and other features, which members have built since LICA purchased the farm near Melbourne in 2000.
“We call it the one-stop shop, where you can see anything being put to practice by our landowners,” said Kelby Kiefer, executive director of Iowa LICA.
Together, these “edge-of-field” practices remove 50% of phosphates and almost 100% of the nitrates from the runoff of a 1,000-plus acre watershed, according to the association.
Adding more wetlands, saturated buffers and bioreactors across the state are a key part of Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy. It aims to cut nitrogen and phosphorus losses from farm fields by 41% and 29%, respectively.
The strategy is part of a broader effort to reduce nutrient pollution in the state’s waterways and the Gulf of Mexico by 45% compared to the 1980-96 baseline period. It does not include a target date.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the state has accelerated edge-of-field practices in recent years, in part through the Batch and Build model. The approach bundles projects in a targeted watershed to reduce costs and save time for farmers and contractors.
Nearly 150 nitrate reducing wetlands and around 500 saturated buffers, bioreactors and multi-purpose oxbows had been built in the state as of 2024. Thousands more will be needed to meet the state’s nutrient reduction targets.
“[Clean water is] something we need to be focused on, and we can be proud of the work that’s happened, but we know that we need to do more,” Naig said. “Buildings like this help.”
Naig said scaling up conservation infrastructure across the state will require more skilled contractors. He described them as the “critical link” between concepts and “getting things on the ground.”
“It’s from that point where you say, ‘We have a design that’s ready to go, a willing landowner,’ but somebody needs to make it happen,” Naig said. “The land improvement contractor sits in that very important spot.”
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Mark Roering returned to Iowa City Regina 30 years after serving as an assistant coach, and in just two seasons, he has transformed the Regals into one of Class 2A’s most dangerous teams.
“I was a senior in college. I just had finished playing baseball myself and was doing high school in the summers. Had one of those magical seasons here losing in the state finals,” Roering said. “I was just ready for something new.”
Prior to being hired at Iowa City Regina in 2024, Roering coached nine seasons at Dowling Catholic, where he helped the Maroons reach the state tournament six times. Regina was below .500 in three of the four seasons before his arrival. His first season at the helm, Regina went 22-6.
“I think the biggest difference is practice. Everybody is so much more locked in. Really that just comes from him. He gets on us everyday, he has to make the drive and hour and a half every day so we want to give that back to him for all the time and effort he’s put into us,” junior Trey Streb said.
Streb also described Roering as a very emotional coach who cares deeply about the team and winning.
The Regals’ bats have become a significant threat. Regina ranks fifth in the state and second in Class 2A with a .379 batting average and has the fourth fewest strikeouts among state teams.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced and it’s been super competitive and it’s nice to be with people who want to win and will do whatever it takes to win,” senior Emmett Burke said.
The team already sits at 20 wins with eight regular season games remaining.
Roering said the transformation comes when players start believing they can win in any situation.
“Winning is contagious just like losing is contagious,” Roering said. “Kids they start believing and it gets really dangerous you know that they can win no matter what situation they’re in.”
The turnaround has positioned the Regals to make a postseason run. With only one senior on the roster, the team could remain a threat next season.
“No matter what, we’re going to fight and we’re not going to roll over. We’re going to do what we need to do to win,” Burke said.
“We’re big competitors. We don’t accept defeat and I think that’s one of my favorite parts about this team,” Streb added.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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