Republican Governor Kim Reynolds will be expanding her school choice plan for parents who want to send their children to a private K-12 school.
“The right to place your child in an environment where they can thrive should not just be for families that have the financial resources,” Reynolds said Saturday night. “It should be for every single parent and this is the year that we are going to get that done.”
Reynolds asked the 2022 legislature to provide $55 million worth of state scholarships, to cover private school costs for 10,000 students from low to middle income households, but the plan did not have enough Republican votes to pass in the Iowa House. During a speech to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, Reynolds made it clear that if she’s reelected, she’ll present the 2023 legislature with a new plan.
“I think it’s beyond time to give parents the choice in their child’s education,” Reynolds said, to applause.
Reynolds mentioned the topic briefly during her speech, but did not unveil her new proposal. Arizona’s Republican governor signed a law this summer that lets Arizona parents take the state money set aside to educate their child in a public school and use it to cover private school costs or homeschooling expenses.
“The priority should be to fully fund public schools with public money,” Deidre DeJear, the Democratic candidate for governor, said in a written statement provided to Radio Iowa.