A Sad Day for Iowa: Gov. Reynolds Signs Private School Voucher Bill Into Law
This week every Democratic lawmaker and 12 Republican lawmakers fought into the night and voted against Governor Reynolds’ private school voucher bill, but fell just a few votes short of defeating it.
The new law will turn over roughly $1 billion in Iowa taxpayer money to her new private school voucher program in the first four years. The legislation is heavy on funds and light on oversight, fraud control, and safeguards for Iowa children.
Governor Reynolds and Republican leaders used a disgusting array of political maneuvers and parliamentary tricks to pass it into law as quickly as possible:
- In the House, Republican leaders created an entirely new committee to consider voucher legislation, shutting many of their own members out of the discussion, and then tweaked the rules to dodge any scrutiny into the financial implications of the plan.
- In the Senate, the GOP used a legislative trick to block any amendments to the bill – from Democrats or Republicans – that could’ve been offered to make it less harmful to public schools and rural communities.
- The governor celebrated with national school voucher lobbyists as soon as the bill passed and signed the bill into law less than 12 hours later.
How will this affect Iowa’s budget and Iowa taxpayers?
Governor Reynolds Private School Voucher program is projected to pay private school tuition for 41,687 Iowa students at a cost of $341 million a year once fully phased in – while slashing funding to our public schools by $46 million per year.
Quick Updates
- Senate Dems support family leave. Last week, every Senate Democrat signed on as cosponsor to SF 95, a bill establishing paid family leave for Iowa’s working families. Senate Democrats’ number one priority is supporting working families, lowering costs, and creating opportunity, and paid leave is essential to accomplishing those goals.
- License to Kale. The Senate Local Government Committee advanced a bill to open up farmers markets vendor licenses on a statewide basis. That means your favorite stand could have an easier time covering multiple locations this summer.
- Cold Cases at DPS. The Senate held a hearing this week on the creation of a cold case investigation unit in the Department of Public Safety. Solving cold cases give closure to victims and is a huge morale boost for a police force.
- Don’t device & drive. A bill banning handheld devices while driving advanced in the Senate Transportation Committee this week. SF 60 is aimed at keeping Iowa’s roadways safe by preventing distracted driving. Under the bill, using a device while driving would be a moving violation subject to a $100 fine and could lead to a suspension of your license.
- Insulin relief is on the way. Medicare beneficiaries who need insulin will see tremendous relief with the implementation of price caps included the federal Inflation Reduction Act. That’s great news for Iowa, which currently faces the second-highest out-of-pocket insulin costs in the nation. Check out this report on the Rx benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act.
This Week in the Capitol
