(Radio Iowa) – Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg, a native of Hawarden, says northwest Iowa is proof that private schools do not diminish the performance of public schools.  “The thriving public and private schools right here in this area I believe are proof positive that education and school choice are not a zero sum game,” Gregg says. “All can be winners in that.”

Gregg addressed a crowd in Sioux Center on Wednesday. “If there’s proof anywhere in the state of Iowa and maybe anywhere in the United States that public and private schools can live together harmoniously, it’s Sioux County,” Gregg said. “We’re here in Sioux Center. Sioux Center has an outstanding public school. It also has Sioux Center Christian.”

Sioux Center Christian is a kindergarten through eighth grade school with about 550 students. About three times that many students are enrolled in Sioux Center’s public K-through-12 schools. The governor’s plan to provide 55-hundred dollar state scholarships to 10-thousand private school students has stalled in the Republican-led Iowa House. Critics say it will shift state funding away from public schools in th e42 rural counties in Iowa that do not have a private school. Others say it will become an ever increasing entitlement for the parents of students who attend private schools.