Superintendent says Iowa Governor wanted him to lobby state lawmakers on school voucher bill

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A rural Iowa superintendent mentioned he believes Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) needed college officers to push lawmakers to move Senate File 2369, generally known as the varsity voucher invoice.

The push occurred in an April assembly between the Governor and about six different rural superintendents, in keeping with MMCRU Superintendent Dan Barkel. Barkel, who mentioned he was on the assembly, mentioned he was stunned the Governor was making an attempt to get native districts to advocate for a coverage, which they’ve advised lawmakers may damage public colleges.

“It advised me how a lot she needs this to move,” he mentioned. “And we have been all stunned how a lot it is a precedence merchandise for her.”

Barkel mentioned the Governor’s level was vouchers would enhance Iowa colleges as a result of it creates a extra aggressive setting. He mentioned she used completely different information factors from a pamphlet, throughout a 30-minute assembly.

“It gave some testing outcomes from a check, which fairly truthfully, most college districts don’t pay quite a lot of consideration to,” Barkel mentioned. “If we all know that exact evaluation was going to be the report card if we had vouchers or not. Man, I’m certain we might take note of that evaluation.”

Heather Nahas, who works in public relations for the Governor’s Workplace, mentioned Gov. Reynolds has had greater than a dozen non-public conferences with stakeholders a couple of college voucher invoice since December 2021. She mentioned these conferences embody college directors, mother and father, academics, and college students.

The invoice strikes public {dollars} to non-public colleges by means of scholarships, the place those that qualify would have a family revenue under 400% of the federal poverty stage. For a household of 4, essentially the most a household could make to qualify is $106,000.

In that case, 70% of the per-pupil funding, about $5,300, could be deposited into an “training financial savings account” for the household to spend on non-public college tuition, homeschooling curricula, or different qualifying instructional prices. The remaining 30% would keep within the state to be reallocated to smaller, typically rural college districts.

Gov. Kim Reynolds endorsed Barb Kniff McCulla over present Assistant Majority Chief Jon Thorup, who plans to vote in opposition to the varsity voucher invoice, within the Republican major for Home District 37 on Wednesday. Thorup mentioned he didn’t hear from Reynolds earlier than the endorsement and believes it’s associated to his lack of assist for the varsity voucher invoice.

A spokesperson from McCulla’s marketing campaign mentioned McCulla would assist any invoice if it gave mother and father extra selections when it got here to a baby’s training in a textual content message.

Pat Garrett, who’s a spokesperson for Kim Reynold’s marketing campaign, mentioned McCulla would assist enact a pro-parent agenda, which incorporates parental selection in training.

Megan Goldberg, who’s a Political Science Professor at Cornell Faculty and KCRG-TV9 Political Analyst, mentioned the endorsement is a sign to different Republicans in regards to the penalties for voting in opposition to the Governor. She additionally mentioned the occasion and the Governor may additionally take much less public actions, like sharing consultants, information, or another marketing campaign sources with major challengers slightly than incumbents.

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