Move to revoke Iowa’s new student testing rule advances

DES MOINES — Less than three weeks after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a sweeping law creating taxpayer-funded education savings accounts for private schools, Iowa lawmakers are advancing a bill to loosen testing requirements for students taking advantage of the program.

Under House Study Bill 138, state-required assessments would be optional — not required — for students using education savings accounts. The students still would be required to take all federally required assessments, including the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress.

A three-member subcommittee advanced the bill Thursday with only Republican support.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; accountability is best left to parents,” Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, said at the meeting.

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ private school education bill, which she signed into law Jan. 24, included a provision requiring students in private schools that use an education savings account to take all applicable federal and state assessments.

The law will allow students to take the state’s full per-pupil cost — around $7,635 next year — to pay for private school tuition and other expenses. The program is expected to cost at least $345 million by the time it is fully implemented.

While the bill advanced in the subcommittee, its chances of becoming law aren’t clear. Republican House Speaker Pat Grassley of New Hartford said he hadn’t seen the bill but removing the requirement for state assessments was not a priority for him.

“That’s not been a part of anything that we’ve discussed as a caucus or had any conversations with any of the committee chairs on,” he said.

Students at independently accredited private schools are not currently required to take state or federally required assessments, Iowa Department of Education spokesperson Heather Doe said, while students at state-accredited private schools are. Both types of accredited private schools are eligible for the new accounts.

The major state-required test is a literacy screening assessment for grades K-3, and the assessment continues for students who are at risk.

Public school advocates were roundly opposed to the legislation, and they said at the hearing it strips private schools of a major accountability measure that was built into the law.

“This is less than two weeks after the legislation was passed and signed that we are making this modification,” said Melissa Peterson, a lobbyist for the Iowa State Education Association, Iowa’s main public teachers union. “We do think there was concern with the original bill, and that people were ultimately in support of the bill because there was this accountability measure in place.”

Eric Goranson, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Christian schools, said the original law required private schools to treat different populations of students differently — students without education savings accounts would not have the same testing requirements as other students.

He said the schools he represents administer objective testing and have required testing from the accreditation agencies they use.

“Many parents come to our schools because they like the way we test, because they like the way we instruct,” he said. “And anything that erodes that is taking away a choice for them.”

The main federally required assessment, the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress, still would be required by students who have education savings accounts. Students are required to take that assessment in grades 3 through 11. There is also an alternative assessment for students with Individualized Education Plans and assessments for English language learners.

Democrats echoed the comments made by public education advocates, saying the bill would eliminate the accountability measures in place to ensure students using publicly-funded education savings accounts were succeeding.

“This is what we said would happen with school vouchers, that private schools would continue to get away with not following the rules, and not following along and not being held accountable,” House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst said. “We’re not even three weeks out from passing vouchers, and we’re already removing accountability from our private schools.”

Peterson said she is concerned the Legislature will continue changing the requirements on private schools, including accreditation, that were provided in the law.

“Our fear is that, again, the accountability measures that we heard the floor manager proclaim, was accreditation, the assessments and the parental involvement,” Peterson said. “And House Study Bill 138 tries to get rid of one of those three elements, and I fear the accreditation element might be next.”