Des Moines, Iowa — Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa’s state-funded Education Savings Accounts for private school students are part of an education revolution that’s happening across the country.
Reynolds made her comments at the annual convention of the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC, a conservative think tank that proposes bills for state legislatures. ALEC CEO Linda B. Nelson was on stage with Reynolds to discuss what Nelson calls universal education freedom.
Reynolds is now co-chair of the “Education Freedom Alliance,” an American Legislative Exchange Council effort to get state-funded education savings accounts set up in 25 states by 2025. Reynolds says an important part of the effort is advertising — like the radio and TV ads that ran in Iowa back in 2023 before the Iowa legislature passed her proposal.
After two years of failing to get enough Republicans in the legislature to back the concept, Governor Reynolds campaigned against Republican lawmakers who opposed her bill in 2022.
Reynolds influence led to the defeat of four Republicans in GOP primaries in 2022 and school choice was her top priority as Reynolds won reelection that November with 58 percent of the vote.
The governor says her nearly 20 percent margin of victory in 2022 prompted her to abandon the more limited school choice proposals she’d made before.
The governor’s “Students First Act” was the first bill the Iowa legislature passed in 2023. Over 30 thousand private school students in Iowa have qualified for Education Savings Accounts this year. When fully implemented next fall, Iowa will be among eight states where all private school students are eligible for state funding to cover tuition and other expenses.
