‘Their parents pay taxes too’: Gov. Reynolds defends Iowa families against auditor’s ESA attack 

A report from an Iowa gubernatorial candidate is receiving pushback after he attempted to paint school choice in a negative light.

State Auditor Rob Sand, the Democratic nominee for governor, issued a report June 17 claiming school choice costs the state millions of dollars for students who were already enrolled in private school.

Since a reported 79% of students enrolled in education savings accounts last school year were already in private school, Sand said that amounted to about $259 million of the program’s nearly $330 million budget.

The ESA program, which lifted all income restrictions this year, “is still paying tuition for the wealthiest families in the state of Iowa, who can barely even feel the check that they write, and a lot of people who don’t mind doing it at all,” Sand claimed at a news conference.

But Republicans and others who study school choice say his numbers are wrong. They also accused Sand of playing politics.

“This is a complete political stunt not based on reality,” Tyler Raygor, Iowa state director of Americans for Prosperity, told The Lion, adding, “anytime you’re using an office to further your political goals and not do the job of your office, that’s improper.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds, who ushered in the ESA program, pushed back as well.

“Rob Sand wants Iowans to believe that if a child is educated in a public school, that child deserves taxpayer support, but if that same child is educated in an accredited nonpublic school, the family is taking something they should not receive,” she said in a statement. “That is wrong. These are Iowa children. Their parents pay taxes too. Their futures matter too.”

Then she accused him of “chasing headlines” instead of doing his job.

“Let’s call this so-called audit what it is: politics, not oversight. While Rob Sand is chasing headlines about private school families, 16 required public school audits are sitting overdue on his watch. If he wants to talk about accountability, he can start there.”

Beyond the political back-and-forth, a look at the numbers casts doubt on Sand’s claims.

Martin Lueken, who directs the Fiscal Research and Education Center at EdChoice, a leading school choice advocate, said Sand’s data is incomplete.

“Iowa has a tax-credit scholarship program, in addition to its ESA program,” he told The Lion in an email. “The 80% claim is higher than the true non-switcher rate because it turns out that there are many ESA student[s] who transferred from the (tax credit) program.”

Lueken’s research found more than half of students (56%) in the ESA program were using the tax credit previously but are listed as “not enrolled in public school immediately prior to entering the ESA program.”

The state actually saves money because school choice scholarships, at about $8,000, are far less than the cost of the average public school student. Lueken concluded that “as long as more than 47% of ESA students switched from public schools, the program will generate fiscal benefits for taxpayers in the long run.”

Raygor said Iowans should “dig past the headlines” and not “believe the lies.”

“He’s grasping at straws,” Raygor said of Sand. “I think he probably believes, and his team probably believes, it’s a convenient talking point to divide Iowans and rally them against a popular program.”

State voters strongly agree that “the dollars (should) follow the students to provide the best education for that student,” he said, citing polling.

He also pointed out that Sand’s wife “was blessed to grow up in a family where she could attend a boarding school that costs over $60,000 a year in today’s money.”

School choice opens more options for families.

“We’re just trying to allow every Iowan to access an educational opportunity that best meets their needs and not let the income that their family has become a restriction on that,” Raygor said.