by Jim Walker
Recently, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Utah Governor Spencer Cox, both Republicans, signed into law bills that provide parental choice for the use of public money for private school education tuition. They join West Virginia and Arizona, which already have such laws. Similar bills are in the legislatures of Florida, Nebraska, and Virginia. Similar bills are also being filed in the Texas legislature, and Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has voiced strong support for them. It is beginning to look like public funding of private schools is a bad idea whose time has come.
The Iowa law, which passed on a party-line vote with only Republican support, provides $7500/year for tuition in a private school of the parent’s choice. The law awards a “booby” prize of $1,200/year to the school district where the student resides. This funding will also be available for students already enrolled in private schools. Private schools are NOT required to accept special needs students.
Republicans have long advocated such policies claiming that they will improve education by introducing competition into K-12th grade schools while Democrats have maintained that they will destroy public education.
It appears that we are about to get a test of these two views.
Primary sources:
1) Associated Press January 24, 2023
2) Fox News Digital by Joshua Nelson
It will be interesting to see what support, if any, they get from their rural Republican base. There are no private schools in most rural school districts, and the Texas bill proposes to take money away from those kids and send it to more-affluent families in urban districts. Also, look at how much state money currently goes to each public school. It's a lot less than proposed subsidies of affluent families wanting "your" money to pay for their church schools.