Letter to the Editor: Taxpayers’ money should go to public schools

Senator Rosenboom made a surprising statement when he appeared at the legislative forum recently. He said “… every private school student costs the state $7983 — that’s all they get.” That may be true, but that does not begin to tell us what education savings accounts really cost all of us who pay taxes.

Here is one example. There is an out of state company called Odyssey that contracted with the state to oversee distribution of our tax money for the E.S.A. According to an article that appeared in the Des Moines Register, Odyssey was paid more than $682,000 in the first year. But that wasn’t all Odyssey was paid. Odyssey also charged a transaction fee to process each student through its system.

The parents of the students don’t pay this fee, the taxpayers do. So last year the state paid Odyssey over $267,000 more than the agreed contract amount to cover these transaction fees. The amounts charged by Odyssey are expected to be even more this year.

Despite what Senator Rosenboom claims, education savings accounts are taking much more money from public schools than he would have us believe. This benefits only a fraction of the total number of students attending schools in Iowa. Taxpayers’ money should go to public schools. This is best investment for the future of our state.

Robert Holley

Newton