Des Moines, Iowa — Iowa parents have applied for 29-thousand of the new state-funded Education Savings Accounts that will cover a child’s private school expenses.
The application deadline for a state-funded Education Savings Account was June 30th. The private company handling those applications has confirmed income data for over 17-thousand students. The parents or guardians who filed the other 12-thousand or so requests for a child will need to provide more documents confirming their income level. State funding this year is limited to students who live in a household with an annual income at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty line. Step two in this process will be to determine if there is a spot in a private school for each of these students. According to the governor’s office, there are only nine-thousand open spots in accredited Iowa private schools for the upcoming school year and it’s possible some of the ESAs won’t be activated because there was no private school option for the student. Trish Wilger, executive director of the Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education, says there is a limit to the number of students private schools will accept.
When Governor Reynolds approved the program six months ago, officials estimated about 14-thousand students would be approved. Twice that number of applications were submitted.
Lawmakers budgeted 107 million dollars for Education Savings Accounts in this first year. However, there is no limit on what the state will spend on the program and the final cost will depend upon how many students are approved.
Iowa State Education Association president Mike Beranek says the governor and Republican lawmakers have decided unlimited budgets are reserved for just a select few Iowans. Beranek says 90 percent of Iowa families continue to choose the public schools in their neighborhood and that’s where precious resources should be directed.
According to the governor’s office, 60 percent of the ESA applications that have been approved are for a student already enrolled in a private school. The other 40 percent are for public school students planning to enroll in a private school. Parents are to indicate if they have found a private school for their child. The company handling the program will confirm enrollment and that’s when the 76-hundred dollars in state money will be available to cover private school tuition or other eligible expenses. According to the governor’s office, the total amount that’s spent on these new Education Savings Accounts won’t be available until October when public and private school enrollment is confirmed.
