Several voiced opposition to school choice bill to Jasper County lawmakers prior to signing

Despite all the pleading from a standing-room-only crowd hopelessly defending their opposition to the governor’s school choice bill this past weekend in front of Rep. Jon Dunwell and Sen. Ken Rozenboom, their representatives ultimately voted in favor of the bill, and it was subsequently signed into law a day later.

The Students First Act is the spiritual successor to the school choice legislation first introduced in 2022, but it had failed to pass due to a lack of support from the House. With Gov. Kim Reynolds endorsing other Republican candidates in the primaries who did support her bill, the House quickly found the votes in 2023.

In addition to the controversy of the bill itself — which creates taxpayer-funded education savings accounts, referred to by opponents as vouchers, for families who want their children to attend private school — many have criticized the push by Republicans to get the law passed only two weeks into session.

Typically, bills that relate to the collection of taxes or appropriate money must be reviewed by other committees, like the ways and means committee and the appropriations committee. But Republican lawmakers introduced a rule change this session excluding any bills assigned to the education reform committee.

The school choice plan was designated to this very committee, and because of the rule change was therefore absolved of further scrutiny on finances.

It was these issues and many others that brought more than 60 people to the League of Women Voters of Jasper County’s legislative gathering on Jan. 21. Inside the meeting room of the Newton Hy-Vee, they demanded answers, scrutinized the bill and challenged legislators to keep constituents in mind.

Sabrina Smead brought her children to the gathering. Smead’s boys are enrolled at the Lynnville-Sully Community School District. She asked Rozenboom and Dunwell to look at them and tell them their school “is not going to get screwed over in this, because that’s what we’re getting told” by district staff.

“If our teachers are screaming that there’s a problem, we need, as parents, to stand up behind our teachers and say there’s a problem,” Smead said. “I don’t know what that looks like. I know I get one piece of the puzzle and I can’t solve it all. But these kids deserve to have good schools.”

By the end of the meeting, guests in favor of the bill were encouraged to raise their hands, showing that out of the dozens of people crammed into the room, only five or so supported the legislation. Which prompted the question: If the majority of Iowans do not want it, why are Republicans pushing for it so much?

“Aren’t you supposed to be working for the constituents?”

Rozenboom disagreed the majority of his district was against the bill. He reiterated a point he made at a recent PCM School Board meeting, saying his emails show a two-to-one ratio of people in favor of the bill. Rozenboom also said his email is biased because of the district he lives in.

“I do not believe — and polls will show this — that what you said is true. I do believe there is strong, strong, strong majority support in the state of Iowa for expanding school choice,” Rozenboom said, reasoning that Reynolds also made school choice a large part of her campaign.

“The governor made this a central campaign issue last year. We all agree on that. She didn’t shy away from it. She won by almost 20 percentage points. That was a referendum on her campaign,” Rozenboom said before being drowned out by “boos” and strong displeasure from the crowd.

In response to the many concerns lobbied against the bill, Rozenboom said he heard the union talking points and claimed they are “overstated.” Dunwell said the process of hearing constituent feedback is important to him, even though they might not see eye-to-eye on issues.

For the past two weeks, Dunwell has shared links to Zoom calls where he and another Republican legislator review the current issues and topics. Dunwell has also shared information promoting and defending school choice, and he tried to dissuade what he perceived as myths and misinformation about the bill.

“I want to have a conversation,” Dunwell said. “And it does make a difference and it does have an impact.”

However, both Rozenboom and Dunwell voted with the vast majority of their party and passed the bill. Of the dozen Republicans who voted against the bill, many have cited issues with funding, accountability, the negative impact to rural school districts and strong opposition from constituents.

SUPPORTERS OF THE BILL STRESS NEED FOR CHOICE

Guests of the legislative gathering who supported the school choice bill were given an opportunity to explain their reasoning. Jack Ferguson recalled a past issue in grade school with his son, who is now an adult and works for a data center. Ferguson explained his son was failing reading in the third grade.

His son needed special instruction outside of the Newton Community School District. So Ferguson, who was working at Maytag at the time, worked an additional job to pay for his son to attend an educational learning center two times a week in Des Moines.

“There’s a lot of people who can’t pay their own way,” Ferguson said. “The way I paid my own way is that when I was working for Maytag, I worked on weekends and nights doing extra jobs as a carpenter to pay his learning in Des Moines.”

When it came time for his son to enter fourth grade, Ferguson asked the school if there were any specialists that could still help his son. Administrators told him no. Ferguson then requested the school hold his son back one more year, but the principal told him he could not do that.

“Why? Why would he not let me hold my child back to get him caught up with where he should be? So I went to the Christian school,” Ferguson said, referring to Newton Christian School, one of only two private schools in Jasper County. “… After years in the Christian school, I re-enrolled him in Newton High School.”

Ferguson said a parent has the right to take their kid out of school and put them in a private school. He asked the room if everyone agreed parents have the right to do what is best for their own child. The room fully supported that idea. This bill, he said, would allow his grandchildren to do that.

Hannah Bartlett, another guest at the legislative gathering, explained why she thinks parents want other options by recalling her own personal story about her kids. In September, Bartlett claimed her son, who is in kindergarten, was physically attacked at school.

“We had a conversation (with the teacher) and I said, ‘What did he do?’ She said he did nothing wrong. He responded perfectly. We went through that conversation. About two weeks later, my phone rings. Principal (says), ‘Your son was physically attacked at school today,’” Bartlett said.

Before Christmas, Bartlett said she received another phone call about her child being physically attacked again. Another son, who is in fifth grade, was also dealing with issues. Bartlett said moms want what is best for their kids, and her family has started to explore other options.

“I’m not just saying the Christian school, although that would align with my values and morals,” Bartlett, who Newton News found out is also an administrative assistant at Newton Christian School, said. “You look on Facebook with other moms who are having issues. So many people are going to Baxter.”

Others are going to surrounding schools, too. Bartlett said the reason she doesn’t have her kids enroll in another school district is because she is a Type 1 diabetic.

“We decide between my supplies — which I could lay it all out for you and it might blow your mind — and my insulin, or a very hefty tuition bill,” Bartlett said. “Those are the choices we have. My husband is a welder at Vermeer. We are very blessed but we have to pick and choose where our money is being spent.”

SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN JASPER WERE AGAINST BILL

Newton News reached out to all of the school district superintendents in Jasper County. Those who responded to the newspaper’s questions were opposed to the school choice bill. Newton Superintendent Tom Messinger said while it is impossible to determine a bill’s impact, funding to public schools continues to lag.

But the financial impact on public school districts, Messinger added, will be real. Iowa also currently ranks at the bottom half nationally in per pupil spending.

“If close to $1 billion is put into the ESAs proposed in the bill, the state would be spending money which wasn’t spent in the past,” he said. “If Iowa is spending this large amount not previously spent, and schools have been told there has not been more money to support programs in the past, what will happen now?”

Baxter Superintendent Micoklyn Clapper said there are a very small number of students who live in Baxter and attend private schools. It may not impact the Baxter school district directly, but Clapper stands firmly against the school choice bill because she believes parents already have a choice: open enrollment.

Any child regardless of whether they live close to a private school or not has the option to choose another school, Clapper added.

“I think this could really impact some public schools and it will not do anything to help rural schools,” she said. “I am all for choice, but if you want to choose private, I don’t believe that should be at the cost of the taxpayer when the taxpayer already provides choice with open enrollment.”

PCM Superintendent Michelle Havenstrite is “startled and saddened” by the manner in which the voucher issue is being approached by the governor and elected officials. School districts knew this issue would be put on the table, but Havenstrite said the process has been anything but transparent.

“I find it ironic that the very same elected officials calling for more transparency in education are being anything but transparent in their actions in the legislature. Specifically, the proposed change in HHB 31,” Havenstrite said, referring to the rule change making the school choice bill exempt from other committee reviews.

Havenstrite questioned why elected officials don’t want to know the financial impact of the bill and why some have even proposed or supported the bill.

Rozenboom told Newton News in December that the school choice legislation proposed in 2022 was partly a result of uproar from parents during the pandemic, specifically the lack of in-person learning, mask mandates and classroom topics deemed by some to be inappropriate.

“I have been a very proud lifelong resident of the state of Iowa, but this morning, my heart is sad and embarrassed about how some of our elected officials are representing and serving their constituents,” Havenstrite said. “It feels and appears sneaky and sly and anything but transparent.”

Havenstrite supports parent choice and parent involvement in their child’s educational programming. But the vouchers/education savings accounts, she said, will take millions from Iowa schools which are already severely underfunded; teachers are so underpaid it is difficult to hire or retain them.

“I just can’t imagine what rural schools and our rural communities will look like in three to five years if this passes.”