‘Public schools weren’t designed to raise our children’: Bob Vander Plaats recalls how Iowa paved the way for universal school choice

In 2023, Iowa became just the second state to pass universal school choice, and longtime conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats had a front row seat to see it happen.

Though his parents sent him to a Christian private school, Vander Plaats enjoyed an “11-year honeymoon” as a public educator while also supporting school choice.

“[School choice] will make public schools better, [and] it allows parents to embrace Deuteronomy 6,” Vander Plaats told Chris and Christine Stigall, cohosts of the Making the Leap podcast. “It’s your right to raise and nurture your child, not the government’s right.”  

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds felt the same way and made it a top priority. 

“Reynolds would read out loud what garbage was in the public school system, and news outlets would censor what she was reading,” Vander Plaats recalled. “Our kids can read it, but the public at large can’t hear this. So, she really believed in school choice.”  

In 2022, the Iowa Legislature tried to pass school choice, but failed by a single vote.  

Since it was also an election year, school choice advocates challenged six anti-choice incumbent lawmakers with the governor’s support – and unseated all six.  

“We don’t need more Republicans,” Vander Plaats recalled Reynold’s saying. “We need more leaders who really believe what they say they believe.” 

The next year, a universal school choice bill sailed through the Legislature, and other states followed suit. 

“Courage begets courage,” Vander Plaats explained, citing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who helped unseat multiple anti-school choice politicians in his own state in a recent primary. 

One of Vander Plaats colleagues from Texas even told him, “There’s no way Abbott does what Abbott does without Kim Reynolds showing how you do it.” 

But in Texas – and some other states – school choice often meets resistance from rural Republicans who fear what might happen to their local schools.  

“It’s the Friday night football lights, it’s ‘my wife’s a cook at the high school,’ or ‘my husband is the bus driver,’” Vander Plaats explained.  “[But] is this about the adults who have jobs or is this about the kids? 

“[Public schools] were never designed to raise our children. And if they were designed to raise our children, we have years of research that show we’re bad at it.” 

Beyond helping encourage schools to focus on academics, educational freedom is about supporting the most important social institution of all: the family.  

“This country hungers and thirsts for a spiritual revival. But if you’re going to have revival in the country, you need to have revival in the family. You need to have moms and dads being moms and dads again. 

The Making the Leap podcast is produced by The Herzog Foundation, which also publishes The Lion.