(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s public charter schools will get one-point-three MILLION dollars in additional state funding to boost teacher salaries under a bill Governor Reynolds will sign into law. The bill, which cleared the Senate yesterday (Monday), creates a revolving fund that will provide low-interest loans for charter school facilities. Iowa currently has 16 charter schools. Senator Jesse Green, a Republican from Boone, predicts charter schools will become more popular in rural Iowa because they have the flexibility to innovate.
“How does real change happen? It generally does not come from the government and it does not come from the teachers’ union,” Green said. “It comes from empowering parents, serving students and supporting our teachers.” Green says one of the best parts of the bill deals with homeschooling. It will let an unlimited number of unrelated children be taught in a home-based setting and the host may charge tuition and fees. Current law says a maximum number of four unrelated children can be home-schooled together.
“Homeschool families have been doing an incredible job in the state of Iowa. Home-school students do better than their peers,” Green said. “…Most people are surprised that this language is in (state law) about not having tuition or a cap on the amount of students you can have and so it’s time for this language to go.” Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, says the state should not allow tuition to be collected for homeschooling by a private instructor who’s not related to the student.
“Some home-school parents do an excellent job. I freely admit that,” Quirmbach said, “but this bill opens the door to greedy and unscrupulous opportunists…to cash in on vulnerable families and vulnerable students.” The bill also requires public schools to let charter school students participate in sports, music and other extracurricular activities if the charter school doesn’t have those options.
Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Marion, says those programs are expensive for public school districts to maintain, plus public districts must shoulder the cost for charter school students who enroll in community college classes. “We must come up with consistent expectations,” Donahue said, “otherwise we risk creating a system where public schools are held to one standard while charter schools receive the same funding with fewer obligations.”
The bill passed the Senate on a 29-to-17 vote. It cleared the Iowa House nearly two weeks ago on a 53-to-34 vote. Governor Reynolds says the legislation reinforces the principle that state funding should follow the student and the bill is another bold step forward in putting students first.
