Iowa's public schools have lost students over recent years. The Iowa Department of Education reports enrollment fell by 11,635 students between the 2018-2019 and 2026-2027 school years and projects a further decline through 2028-2029. The article cites lower birth rates and the education savings account program, signed into law in January 2023, as contributing factors. Private school enrollment rose from 33,692 students in 2022-2023 to 41,892 in 2025-2026. Declining enrollment can increase districts' reliance on local property taxes, and about two-thirds of Iowa's public school districts have invoked the budget guarantee. The Ames Community School District, which lost 188 students in one year, declined to comment.
Governor-elect Rob Sand says he would like to meet with 14 of the 16 state agency directors as he decides who will serve in his administration when he takes office January 15. On "Iowa Press" this weekend, Sand indicated that two directors who worked under Governor Kim Reynolds will not be invited to stay on. One is the director of the Iowa Department of Education, whom Sand cites for her decision to dramatically increase payments to the private company managing Iowa's Education Savings Account program. Sand also plans to bring in his own budget director, and he has clashed with the director of the Iowa Department of Management over Sand's work as state auditor. Families in the Education Savings Account program may want to follow these appointments.
Iowa's candidates for governor, Republican Zach Lahn and Democrat Rob Sand, have different plans for education savings accounts (ESAs), which help families pay private school tuition. Lahn supports the program and has discussed expanding it, but does not want to extend it to homeschooling families, saying they should remain independent of government direction. Sand wants income limits for families using ESAs and wants private schools that receive public money to accept anyone who applies. Both support reviewing ESA spending, though Lahn wants a third party to conduct the review rather than the state auditor's office. More than 41,000 students used the accounts last school year.
Iowa families who missed the June 30 Education Savings Account deadline will get a second chance this fall. HF 2754, which took effect in May, opens an application window from October 15 through November 15 for families seeking an ESA for the spring semester. Students approved through this window receive half the annual amount, which for 2026–27 is $4,074, half of the $8,148 per-student amount set by the Iowa Department of Education. The article advises families to contact schools first to confirm a spring seat, tuition and enrollment requirements, since ESA applications are handled through Odyssey while admissions decisions belong to each school. It also notes that official instructions for the new window had not yet been posted as of October 3.
Republican governor candidate Zach Lahn is promoting Wonder, the private school he founded in Wichita, Kansas, as a model for education, and has told Iowa voters he would push for "innovation waivers" that would free public schools from mandatory testing and some graduation requirements. The article reports that Wonder's average teacher earns an estimated $40,000 a year, below the Kansas average of $61,470, and that tuition runs about
2,000 a year. Kansas Reflector reported deficits in five of the school's six years open and roughly $4.5 million in personal loans from Lahn and his wife. The school says it can accommodate only mild cases of certain learning needs. Participating private schools in Iowa's Education Savings Account program are not required to serve students with disabilities, and Lahn has called Randy Feenstra's call for them to accept every applicant "the wrong debate to be having."
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