(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand says it appears the State of Iowa spent nearly 260 MILLION dollars this past school year to cover tuition costs for K-through-12 students who would have attended a private school without the state subsidy. Sand, a Democrat running for governor, and current Republican Governor Kim Reynolds have sparred over access to information about Iowa’s Education Savings Account program.
Sand says the report he released today (Wednesday) is based on publicly-available data on spending and enrollment before and after the program launched three years ago. Sand says the data suggests only 21 percent of the students attended a private school rather than their local public school because of the tuition assistance. “What that means is we can assume 8,800 students were enrolled in the program because the program existed,” Sand said.
Sand says there’s been a 25 percent increase in the number of private schools in the past three years, while at the same time the number of private school closures has increased 45 percent. “So we are showing vastly more private schools close and open,” Sand said. “In fact, at least two of them have closed and opened within the same school year, which obviously creates instability for any students who are enrolled as well as their families.”
And Sand says it appears just one of the new private schools that have opened went through the state accreditation process. “Most of the new schools are relying instead on the independent accreditation agencies approved by the Board of Education,” Sand said.
A spokesperson for Governor Reynolds or the Iowa Department of Education was not immediately available for comment.
