School choice bill, funding discussed at legislative coffee

Two of three questions asked of House Representative Tom Moore (District 21) and Iowa State Senator Tom Shipley during Saturday’s legislative coffee at Creston’s Restored Depot, had to do with a school choice bill, which remains a topic of discussion in the current legislative session.

The goal of Senate File 372 would create “education savings grants” for K-12 students, which in previous assemblies has also been referred to as “education savings accounts” and “school vouchers.”

Some believe the bill would create competition among districts, which proponents argue would improve the quality of education at area schools and parents would have the ultimate say in how and who educates their children.

Opponents to the bill — which includes Democrats in the legislature and organizations such as the Iowa Association of School Boards — have emphasized that the proposed legislation is essentially using taxpayer money for private schooling, allowing for-profit institutions to benefit from public dollars. The opposition also points out that regulating how the money is spent by individual families would be difficult to manage, so the possibility is there of parents taking the money for themselves and spending nothing on education.

“I’ve always said that’s a path I don’t want to go down,” said Shipley. “We put $50 million in private schools in the state the way it is.”

As the chairman of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations committees, Shipley said, currently, more state money is earmarked for private schools than the Department of Agriculture budget.

Moore said he has yet to see anything about education savings accounts, as previously mentioned, and is of the same opinion as Shipley.

“If anything goes forward for more money following the kids, there’s got to be good proof to me that, one, it doesn’t hurt the public school, and two, the values coincide ... that we don’t have religious and public school conflicts as far as what’s being taught. Those are two major issues that have to be solved before I can even jump on board,” Moore said.

Iowa House update

Moore said a number of key priorities include the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) extension, children’s mental health, House Joint Resolution 3 (protecting the right to keep and bear arms), Iowa House Study Bill 227 (providing for the regulation of certain commercial establishments engaged in the care of non-agricultural animals, providing for fees, making appropriations and providing for penalties), House Study Bill 68 (felon voting rights) and expanded access to birth control.

“This is the governor’s bill. This is in response to the court’s striking down the heartbeat bill,” said Moore. “What this will do, we hope, is by expanding birth control access to women, that we will have less abortions.”

Moore said the legislation would require patients to have a health screening and a prescription, however, tracking strategies will be in place to ensure birth control is not illegally distributed to individuals involved in human and sex trafficking.

State Senate update

Shipley said bills that passed committees include birth certificate access for adoptees, expedited dissolution of marriage for individuals with a history of domestic abuse, a needle-exchange pilot program, removal of statute of limitations in sex abuse cases involving minors, increased access for medical cannabidiol (CBD), and a death penalty bill.

“They would have to do three things, not “or,” said Shipley. “They have to do all of them – kidnap, rape and kill a child.”

Senate Study Bill 1054 was also passed by a Senate subcommittee, which could eliminate the statute of limitations for sex crimes against minors.

“So, ... if you finally decided to go after the person who abused you when you were 15, now there’s no statute ... they can’t hide. There’s no getting away from it. So next time they tell you we don’t do anything good, you can bring that up,” said Shipley.

The next legislative coffee is 8 a.m. April 13 at the Creston Restored Depot.