Governor Kim Reynolds and the wife of Florida’s governor shared the stage last night at a “Mamas for DeSantis” event for Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign.
Casey DeSantis called Iowa’s new state-funded Education Savings Accounts “a game changer.”
“Yay!” Reynolds yelled and, as the crowd cheered, DeSantis called it “a big deal.” In March, Governor Ron DeSantis expanded Florida’s law, eventually making about $8500 in state money available for every student to cover the costs of private school or home schooling. Governor Reynolds announced yesterday that Iowa parents had applied for state-funded accounts to cover private school costs for 29,000 children.
“We were processing one application every 12 seconds in the first several days of opening up. We did it in a month,” Reynolds said. “We had projected about 14,500 and we’re over 17,500 right now.”
Sixty percent of the 17,500 approved applications Reynolds mentioned are for students already enrolled in a private school. Parents who filed the other applications need to submit more paperwork to show they meet the income guidelines to qualify.
Reynolds also asked DeSantis about a welfare reform initiative called “Hope Florida” that has state agencies connect welfare recipients with resources available from religious groups, non-profits and the private sector. “It’s just something that I want to bring to Iowa that I’m really impressed with,” Reynolds said. “…The partnership between the faith community, the private sector and government and what you’ve been able to do with that I think is really phenomenal and this has kind of been your deal.”
DeSantis told the crowd gathered in a restored barn in Johnston that there are plenty of private citizens who’re willing to help meet the needs of people who qualify for government assistance.
“This is a conversation that we need to be having about the proper role of government. What is government doing?” DeSantis asked and Reynolds said: “Amen.”
DeSantis continued: “Since the ‘Great Society,’ how much money have we spent? Trillions of dollars. And where’s the return on our investment and how are we helping good people who are in need? Let’s look at a philosophical, different approach to government. Let’s change the structure of it.”
Neither DeSantis nor Reynolds mentioned next week’s special legislative session that Reynolds has called to pass new abortion restrictions. DeSantis ended the event by inviting the crowd to join “Mamas for DeSantis.”
“It’s one thing when your policies come after us, as mamas,” DeSantis said. “It’s another thing when your policies come after our children. That’s when the claws come out”
She launched a similar group in Florida about five months before her husband won reelection as Florida’s governor by a nearly 20 point margin.