(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says over 30-thousand students have been approved for state funding to cover private school expenses for the next school year. Reynolds made the announcement at an event hosted by The Family Leader, an evangelical Christian group. “Just another indication that parents want options,” she said, to applause.

In early 2023 Reynolds signed a law creating state-funded Education Savings Accounts. Last school year nearly 19-thousand students qualified for the program based on limited family income. This year, students from households with an annual income that’s 400 percent of the poverty level are eligible. The state will spend about 78-hundred dollars on each private school student who qualifies. Reynolds says the program injects competition in the state’s K-through-12 education system.

“As lieutenant governor with Governor Branstad we did a comprehensive education reform package and I can remember standing at a town hall saying: ‘You know, I think we should embrace competition. It makes us all stronger,'” Reynolds said. “…I was booed and heckled and nearly chased out of the room by just saying that simple statement.”

Reynolds describes the pandemic as a game changer in the push to dramatically increase state funding for private schools. “It really gave parents a front row seat to see what was happening in their classrooms,” Reynolds said, “and just the lack of the teachers union for really getting those kids back in the classroom.”

Beyond state funding for private school expenses, Reynolds says she’s trying to lift Iowa’s education system as a whole. She points to the raises she approved for beginning and veteran teachers in public schools and a new reading initiative. “Iowa used to lead the country when it came to education and I think a lot of people still believe that. We are not now, but we will be,” Reynolds says. “…Hang in there with me. We are on our way.”

Democrats say education is a major issue in legislative races this year. The Democratic leaders in the Iowa House and Senate say spending hundreds of millions of state tax dollars on private schools and the changes Reynolds pushed for in Iowa’s Area Education Agencies are unpopular with voters.