Iowa Association of Christian Schools

The Public Policy Voice of Iowa's Protestant, Christ-Centered Schools.

We are the public policy voice of
Iowa's Protestant, Christ-centered schools.

2021 Legislative Session End Is In Sight

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The 2021 legislative session should be coming to a close within the next one to three weeks, depending on how fast the two chambers can wrap up budget work. The Iowa Association of Christian Schools has been active since before the session began advocating for meaningful school choice. We have invested in Iowa for over a hundred years employing staff and educating kids at the highest level. We responded to parents over the last year and offered in-person and distance learning with limited resources at the highest level of excellence available. We have demonstrated demand that can’t be met without the state leveling the playing field.

We are proud to partner with school choice coalition members including the Iowa Alliance/Advocates For Choice in Education, the Iowa Catholic Conference, Americans For Prosperity – Iowa, Iowans for School Choice, the Tax Education Foundation, Ed Choice, the American Federation for Children, and others in working toward an education environment in Iowa that truly puts students and their families first.

Governor Reynolds made school choice a priority in her Condition of the State Address and we are extremely grateful she put the issue center stage. We applauded her and continue to applaud her for making it clear that school choice is “not a zero-sum game” and that a child’s educational environment should not be determined by his/her family’s income or zip code. Shortly after her address, the Governor introduced Senate File 159, an omnibus education reform bill that included public and private school choice measures as well as other reforms. We reacted to that bill, explaining why we were encouraged that, for the first time, an Iowa Governor introduced a bill that included an ESA but explaining concerns on the balance between private and public school choice options in the bill and advocating for the removal of the statewide student information system in the proposal.

As we reported last month, the Iowa Senate passed Senate File 159 largely intact and sent it to the House where they split the bill into three parts:

  1. HSB 240 – “The Rest” of the Governor’s education bill that was in SF 159.
  2. HSB 242 – Charter Schools
  3. HSB 243 – Students First Scholarship (ESA)

The House has since reduced the expansion of the tuition and textbook tax credit, failed to move the Students First Scholarship bill, and passed the charter school bill without limits on how many can initially form. We support charters as a school choice option and would like to see them begin forming in Iowa, but we need to make sure public school expansion grows at a rate commensurate to private school choice or we simply change how we limit student potential as we negatively impact private school options as other states have done.  We don’t want to repeat the mistakes of many other states that saw choices reduced as their legislatures continued picking winners and losers.

The Senate has begun the process of amending the charter school bill to adjust their requirements and we are hopeful that both chambers will bring the tuition and textbook tax credit and school tuition organization tax credit (STO) numbers back up to numbers closer to the Governor’s and/or our original proposals.  We appreciate the Senate’s willingness to work with both public and private school groups to address concerns and improve the bills. We also want to thank the House and Senate for removing the troublesome and expensive state-run student information system that was in the original SF 159, as this was a deal-breaker for Iowa’s Christian schools.

IACS has tracked a number of bills this year, defeating some troubling proposals and advocating for others. As we wrap up the session, we are optimistic that the House and Senate will send the Governor a series of bills that not only public and private schools can celebrate but, more importantly, is a win for parents statewide who want choices for their children. We believe every policy decision and every education budget item should put students before systems, and put our kids before our own preferences. Parents are the primary educators and decision-makers for their children and we should empower them. Too often, education policy is more about adults protecting their turf than providing the very best for students.

To that end, please visit our current action alert and email your legislators and the Governor, encouraging them to work together to fund students first. It only takes two-three minutes and a brief word or two to customize your email. With your help, we believe the Iowa legislature will hear the overwhelming number of Iowans who support school choice (don’t take our word for it – Braun Research confirmed what we suspected) and pass meaningful public AND private school choice initiatives this year!

Update on 2021 Legislative Session

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Update on 2021 Legislative Session

We apologize for the length of this email but we’ve received a lot of questions on the school choice bill(s) and the unfunded mandates that have been introduced this year and wanted to make sure our schools and families have all the relevant information.

The Legislature wrapped up week seven and is beginning week eight. The session is scheduled to end April 30. Friday, March 5 marks the first “funnel” deadline when all bills must be through the subcommittee and committee process in the chamber it was introduced in to be eligible for further consideration this session. There are exceptions for budget and tax bills, bills introduced by legislative leadership, etc.

We have a number of issues the Iowa Association of Christian Schools (IACS) is tracking. We wanted to take a moment to update you on a few of them:

The Governor’s Education Reform and School Choice Bill

The Governor introduced a bill making some reforms and introducing public, charter, and private school choice initiatives. We were undecided on that bill for a number of reasons we posted on previously. We had action alerts out for both the Senate and the House and many of you clicked the link and emailed your Senator and/or your Representative and encouraged them to improve and pass the bill. We appreciate your willingness to weigh in!  THANK YOU!

The Senate passed that bill early in the session and it has been sitting in the House education committee awaiting action. This week, the House Education Committee Chair split the Governor’s Bill into three separate bills. HSB 240 passed subcommittee last week and two have subcommittees March 2.  We are current declared “undecided” on each of them and will outline each bill below. Senate File 159, for all practical purposes, is dead and has been replaced by these three new bills in the House. The House didn’t make any substantive changes to the Senate version but simply broke it up into the following three bills:

  1. HSB 240 – “The Rest” of the Governor’s education bill that was in SF 159.
  2. HSB 242 – Charter Schools
  3. HSB 243 – Students First Scholarship (ESA)

HSB 240 – Statewide Database, Open Enrollment, Tuition and Textbook Tax Credit and Other Provisions

HSB 240 includes two sections that are of interest to IACS: The first section creates a statewide student information management system (database).  This would require public and private schools statewide to either replace their current student information software or add another layer of state-prescribed software that would collect data for the state. We are vehemently opposed to this provision of the bill and join public and private school interest groups in opposing its inclusion in any bill this session. The provision would cost public and private schools approximately $7 per student per year, payable to the state; is duplicative; and ignores the fact that our current systems work best with the realities of our schools, our websites, communication tools, etc. We believe it is wholly inappropriate for the state to include private schools in this program, especially when the genesis of the idea was frustration with data collection during a temporary situation (the pandemic) and could be remedied without forcing an expensive, one-size-fits-all system on Iowa’s schools. We believe it is bad public policy and we are disappointed it hasn’t been removed from the bill yet.

The second section of this bill that is of interest to IACS and our families is the tuition and textbook tax credit changes. The tuition and textbook tax credit is currently 25% of the first $1,000 spent by public and private school parents on educational expenses for each dependent. As of a couple of years ago, 70% of those credits were claimed by public school families.  The tax credit is currently uncapped. This changes in this bill raise it to 50% of the first $2,000 educational expenses for each dependent. It also includes homeschool families and is refundable, meaning that it will assist lower income families not currently itemizing or subject to state income tax. These are welcome changes that will help many Iowa families significantly. We appreciate that it is available to all Iowa families of school-aged children and the increases are a welcome relief for families spending significantly more on education in private settings. We will be encouraging the legislature to get this over the finish line this year.

HSB 242 – Charter Schools

Iowa is currently dead-last when it comes to charter opportunities for Iowa families. IACS is a “school choice” organization and we support the inclusion of charter options for Iowa families to the degree their introduction and expansion grows at a rate commensurate with private school choice. Iowa currently only has a couple of school-district-run charters that are, arguably, not really charters in the sense most people think of them.  We support charters having alternative methods of forming as outlined in the bill but we need to ensure that the number of charters is limited until the State is willing to provide universal school choice or make significant strides toward it simultaneous with any charter expansion. We are undecided and we hope that the state legislature chooses to pass legislation that ensures all ships rise. We don’t need the legislature picking more winners and losers. We simply want families to be empower to make ANY choice that is best for their child.

HSB 243 – Students First Scholarship (ESA)

This bill takes the Students First Scholarship program from the Governor’s initial bill and stands it on its own. Many House Republicans have shown reluctance to pass an ESA this year. We are concerned about this bill on two levels: First, that it is based on “failing” public schools and only pertains to families currently attending or entering kindergarten assigned to one of the 34 public school buildings on that list and, secondly, that the overall impact on parental choice is tiny and doesn’t allow us to compete with the current uncapped charter school legislation. We’ll be encouraging the legislature to pick any of the ESA bills we are declared in favor of and run one of those alongside charter expansion or find ways to bolster private school choice while limiting the number of charters available in the state.

Other Issues

HF 585 – “Safe and Sound” Program by the Department of Public Safety

This bill was introduced by the Iowa Department of Public Safety without consulting with education stakeholders first. It does a number of things including officer training; creates a system for accepting “anonymous” (this has been debated all session what that means) reports of self-harm, bullying, threats or actions of violence, etc.; the development by the Department of a voluntary violence prevention curriculum for use by schools, and participating requirements including mandating private religious schools advertise their hotline and programming despite our inability to vet the program for quality or assure that a person on the other end of a phone call or report understands the context or cultural considerations of the student. The bill also requires we share our emergency operations plans with the Department, which may share it with local law enforcement.

We have weighed in on our concerns and currently oppose the bill.  The House amended the bill to allow schools to advertise the program digitally instead of posting paper posters on our walls in three locations. Although better, it is still an unacceptable intrusion considering our schools already have programing and resources and we believe even a one-time digital advertisement on a website, email, or other form of communication simply confuses the school community on which resources are vetted by the school and parents. We have practical, religious liberty, and other constitutional concerns about this bill.

The bill has passed committee and is awaiting debate on the House floor. The Senate version has failed to advance through subcommittee at this time. Please use our action alert and ask your Representative to vote no on this bill and encourage the Department of Public Safety to work with stakeholders in the interim if they want to find ways to help our communities and school families. It is challenging for a legislature to vote against buzz words like “suicide,” “violence,” and “safety” if they don’t hear from you that you believe your school is a safe environment with plans and resources already in place without this troublesome program being enacted.

HF 167 – Seizure Disorders and Teacher Training

This bill has come up a number of years in a row and follows many other mandates by the legislature on teacher training. We have also seen Diabetes training and other training requirements pop up. We are declared opposed to the bill.  We understand the need to be able to address health and safety issues in our schools.  What we oppose is mandates on private, religious schools; especially when the current system of teacher training mandates is overloaded. Despite offering to meeting with organizations pushing this and mandates like it, we were not taken up on that offer and was surprised by the bill this year.  We will be responding to a request made recently to meet over the Summer.

We have worked with other private and public school stakeholders to suggest and amendment that replaces the bill with a study in the interim on a proposal to revamp the teacher training requirements to stretch out some of the timelines, put trainings in a rotator for CEUs, and create a system where the appropriate educators can get the appropriate trainings on a rotating schedule that better fits in with the financial and personal time constraints of Iowa’s teachers and administrators. We believe there is a win/win solution for interest groups and schools without piling on more unfunded training mandates. Please use our action alert to email your Representative and ask them to support an amendment that would create a teacher training study in the interim.

We have weighed in on other bills too. You can see a list of the most relevant bills we are declared on by visiting our “Key Legislation” page on our website. There are a number of bills we are supporting or monitoring.  We’ll also be keeping a scorecard on how Representatives and Senators vote on key bills and will provide a link to that as these bills get votes on the floor of each chamber. Our current action alerts can be found on our “Campaigns”page on our website. Please consider emailing your Representative about these bills today. All of our current resources can be found by visiting iowachristianschools.org and clicking on “Action Center.”

Please don’t hesitate to contact us through our website if you have any questions or concerns. We are working hard every day to ensure the interests of Iowa’s Christian school parents and their educators are heard at the Capitol.

*03/05/21 Update – Each of the bills mentioned above have passed the first “funnel” deadline, meaning they are still eligible for consideration moving forward.  The school choice bills will get new numbers (we’ll update them on this post soon) today or Monday.  HSB 240 was amended in committee to remove the database (good news!) and reduce the increase in the tuition and textbook tax credit to 25% of the first $2,000 without the refundability in the original versions, meaning it is not helpful to low income Iowans who don’t itemize or have a state tax burden.  The issue is a long ways from over this session and bill numbers and structure will most likely change dramatically before the end of session.

What Is An Education Savings Account Program?

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ESAs Fund Parents and Children

An ESA gives parents the choice to customize their child’s education and unique needs regardless of income, location, cost, special needs, or other barriers currently preventing choice. The funding goes to the parents for approved educational expenditures such as tuition, tutoring, therapies, or online learning.

Statewide polling consistently shows Iowans’ support for Education Savings Accounts hovers at or above 64 percent.

Do the ESAs take money away from public schools and fund private schools?

No. The grant goes to the parents who can then choose approved school options that best fit their children’s needs. Many studies have shown that school choice programs do not have a detrimental effect on public schools. There has not been a mass exodus from public schools when a widespread choice program has been implemented.

Why is an ESA needed in Iowa?

Education is not a one-size-fits all service. Giving parents and students choices is not a zero-sum game. All ships can rise as we make sure every child has access to the education that best meets their needs:

Parents should have the freedom to choose their child’s learning options.
ESAs give parents options to seek schools with smaller class sizes and more individualized teacher attention.
ESAs offer parents the opportunity to access schools with curriculums that better fit their needs (high level science, engineering and math).
ESAs should be available to all families regardless of income or special needs.

If parents choose to use an ESA grant to send their child to a faith-based school, doesn’t that violate the separation of church vs. state?

America has had a long history of allowing religious institutions to serve the citizenry. Parents have been allowed to send their children to religious pre-schools that the state funded, Medicaid patients can choose religious hospitals for care, and the GI bill from the early 20th century allowed the greatest generation to pay for tuition at religious colleges and even seminary. A number of recent court cases have all but ended the debate by striking down policies based on anti-religious bigotry or many state’s unfortunate “Blaine Amendments” in their constitutions. Funding parents and their choices is Constitutional.

Does the Governor’s 2021 (SF 159) Education Bill include ESAs for Iowa families?

Sort of.  The bill, among many other things, establishes “Students First” scholarships. Similar to ESAs, the scholarship grants are available to students who attend a “failing” public school building. Currently on the Comprehensive (failing) list are approximately 34 schools in Iowa; including some in Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Dubuque, Davenport, Marshalltown, Waterloo.

The program would be administered by Dept. of Education. So far, we estimate two-three new students for each nonpublic school in the metro areas impacted.  Maximum universe of students is approximately 10K students.

The program is very small, geographically limiting, and based on zip code.  That’s why we are asking every Iowa parent to email their state representative (it already passed the Senate 26-21) and ask him/her to improve this portion of the bill to include current families and additional students statewide.  We are also asking legislators to remove the duplicative, expensive, and over-reaching statewide database program in the bill (Division IV).

Response To Governor Reynolds’ Education Bill

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The Iowa Association of Christian Schools (IACS) applauds Governor Reynolds for highlighting Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) in her Condition of the State Address last week. We fully agree with her statement: “Let’s work together to make sure every child receives a quality education, regardless of income, and no matter their zip code.” We also agree with her that school choice and parental rights in education is not a zero-sum game. We stand ready to work with her and the legislature to ensure that every Iowa parent has the choice of a great public, private, or other education option that best meets their child’s needs.

To that end, we want to thank the Governor for submitting her education bill, starting a conversation on how best to meet that goal we should all share: a quality education for every child. As currently written, the bill is divided into eight “divisions,” and a couple of those divisions directly impact IACS member schools.

Division V expands the tuition and textbook tax credit. This tax credit has been in existence for many decades and benefits families utilizing public and private schools.  We applaud the Governor for including this in her proposal.

Division I creates “students first scholarships” at a rate we estimate to be about half the per student dollar amount available to students who choose a charter school outlined in Division II of the bill. As written, these students first scholarships are only available to students residing within the boundaries of 34 schools in Iowa with the lowest classifications of performance based on federal ESSA standards. In essence, this limits choice based on zip code. IACS has consistently discouraged basing a family’s ability to choose an educational environment that best meets their needs based on “failing” schools or the actions of a third party in general.  There are practical concerns about implementing a program of this nature along with the philosophical questions. We are hopeful that the Iowa legislature considers replacing this division of the bill with an ESA program that serves Iowans statewide based on a parent’s choice because we agree with the Governor that these programs should be offered “regardless of income, and no matter their zip code.”

Division IV creates a database we believe is unnecessary, doesn’t align with our accreditations, and that would require us to pay up to $7 per student to report to.  We will be encouraging the legislature to amend or remove this division.

For these reasons, we are currently declared “undecided” on the bill as we work with the Iowa legislature to improve it.  As soon as we see the changes we highlighted above, we’ll declare “for” the bill. We are hopeful and we are, again, extremely grateful to Governor Reynolds for introducing parental choice as an issue this year and the many legislators who have voiced their support of Iowa parents.

We do not currently have an action alert up on our website as things may change quickly but you are welcome to visit our website and email your legislators directly. Just scroll down and enter your zip code under “Find Officials.”

We may have a call to action soon and we encourage you to sign up for alerts using that same page on our website.

The Iowa Association of Christian Schools exists primarily to strengthen, grow, and advocate for Christian schools in Iowa. We are, however, supportive of every option and want to see public options and private options of all types succeed so all Iowa students get the education that is best for them.  We have an amazing opportunity to empower parents AND support public school students this year. Let’s ensure all ships rise and keep students first in our discussions.

**Update – Jan 26** – We now have an action alert on our website and the bill number has changed to SF 159 (link above changed)