Capitol Notebook: Iowa soon taking applications for new private school assistance program

DES MOINES — Iowa families who wish to apply for state-funded financial assistance to attend a private school in the 2023-2024 school year can submit an application starting at the end of this month, Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office announced Wednesday.

Applications for the Students First Education Savings Accounts will be accepted starting May 31 and through June 30, the governor’s office said.

With those applications pending, the state education board is adopting rules that specify eligibility requirements and parameters for the application process, as well as program administration and accountability, the governor’s office said.

Reynolds and the Republican-led Iowa Legislature earlier this year created the program, which will be phased in over four years until, at full implementation, all K-12 students in Iowa will be eligible for roughly $7,600 per year in state funding to put toward private school tuition or other private school expenses.

The program is expected to cost $107 million in the first year and by 2027, when phased in, will cost $345 million. A New York-based company that administers similar programs in other states has been contracted by Iowa to operate its program.

The legislation was approved with only Republican support. They said the program will provide greater choice for families in their child’s education. Democrats and critics of the program say it will divert state funding from public schools and will disproportionately benefit higher-income families.

“As we prepare to accept applications later this month for Iowa’s landmark Students First ESA program, the rules approved today will provide families with the details they need to consider their options and prepare to apply,” Reynolds said Thursday in a news release. “We are one step closer to providing choice in education for Iowa families regardless of income or ZIP code.”

In its first year, the new program will be open to all incoming kindergarten students, all K-12 students currently enrolled in a public school, and private school students whose family’s income is at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

In future years, that income threshold will increase annually until, beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, all K-12 students in the state will be eligible for the assistance.

Applications will be available on the new program’s page on the Iowa Department of Education website. Webinars will be posted to assist Iowans with completing the application.

Iowa caucuses requirements

Iowans wanting to pick a presidential candidate in next year’s Iowa caucuses would be required to do so in-person under legislation on its way to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk.

The proposal, which was given final approval by the Republican-majority Iowa Legislature, would make illegal Iowa Democrats’ plans to conduct mail-in presidential preference cards for their 2024 caucuses.

Republicans say the legislation is needed to preserve their party’s first-in-the-nation caucus status, because any mail-in presidential preference statements will be construed by New Hampshire as a de facto primary election, and that state would then employ its state law and jump ahead of Iowa on the presidential primary calendar.

Iowa Democrats have already lost their first-in-the-nation status, which they held for half a century. The national party earlier this year created a new early-voting calendar for 2024 that includes South Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Georgia and Michigan.

Iowa Democrats, including state party chairwoman Rita Hart, have said the proposed state law change is unnecessary and possibly unconstitutional, because it is a government body dictating how a political party in the state conducts its party business in a party event. Unlike elections, which are government functions, caucuses are party functions.

The legislation originally included a requirement that caucus participants be registered 70 days prior to the caucuses. That provision was removed from the bill.

The legislation also allows the Iowa Secretary of State to withdraw from a multistate program known as ERIC that allows states to share voter registration information in order to maintain up-to-date voter registration data in their states. Republican-led states have been withdrawing from the program after program leaders recently began the process of identifying unregistered voters in an effort to encourage more people to register to vote.

The bill, House File 716, passed the Senate on a party-line vote with Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing, and now goes to Gov. Reynolds for her signature.

Licensing midwives in Iowa

Midwives would be licensed in Iowa for the first time under legislation approved this week with bipartisan support.

Iowa House lawmakers this week passed House File 265 on a 91-2 vote. The bill creates an advisory council under the Iowa Board of Nursing to advise the board regarding licensure, continuing education requirements, standards of practice, professional ethics, disciplinary actions and other issues related to midwifery.

Licensed midwives would be required to consult with a licensed physician or certified nurse midwife for high-risk pregnancies. It also requires insurance providers to extend maternity benefits to cover maternity services provided by licensed midwives on the same terms as similar services provided by other health care providers.

Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport, said the bill ensure pregnant Iowans receive high-quality care as Iowa struggles with a maternal health care provider shortage.

Similar measures had failed to advance in the Senate in previous session due to opposition from medical organizations and medical providers, who worried the licensure process could mislead Iowans on the safety of going to a midwife to assist with a birth instead of a doctor or nurse, who are better equipped to handle pregnancy complications.

The bill heads to Gov. Reynolds for her signature.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau