(Oakland, Iowa) – The Western Iowa Labor Federation (WILF AFL – CIO) and Concerned Citizens of Pottawattamie County, will host a Community Conversation at Destination Coffee, this weekend, in Oakland. Organizers say the event, which begins at 10-a.m., Saturday, is intended to discuss the August 1st Supervisor districting election in Pottawattamie County.

In the Special Election, county residents will have the chance – for the first time – to decide how they want to elect members to the County Board of Supervisors. Organizers say “Now that the groups have collected nearly 4,000 signatures from across the county to trigger this election, their focus for the final weeks before the ballots are cast, will be to inform citizens of early voting and absentee ballots and to answer questions regarding redistricting and their advocacy for Plan 3.” (Sample ballot for the Special Election)

In a press release, Jen Pellant, President of WILF AFL-CIO, says “Our current Board has been irresponsible with taxpayer dollars and unresponsive to taxpayers’ concerns. So we want to talk to people about why we think Plan 3 is a way to get a more accountable Board.” 

Concerned Citizens of Pottawattamie County member Geri Frederiksen says “We want to answer any clarifying questions concerning the election and let people in the rural part of Pottawattamie County know why Plan 3 is the best for everyone.”

And, Shawna Anderson, a resident and business owner in Oakland, says “The best, greatest ideas usually come from people sitting down and having conversations…..having a conversation about supervisor districts,” she says, “Is the best way to understand the facts rather than lies, misinformation and disinformation.”

(Radio Iowa) – Former Vice President Mike Pence, campaigning in western Iowa this week, says he looks forward to debating former President Donald Trump next month. The first debate among the candidates seeking the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination will be held in Milwaukee on August 23rd.

“There are people, including my former running mate, that are signalling a desire to walk away from American leadership in the world and I’m someone that believes we are the leader for the free world, so we are going to have a good debate,” Pence said in Sioux Center, “and it’s going to be about the future of the party, the future of the country, but I really look forward to it.” Pence says there are also key domestic issues that separate the candidates.

“I see not only the former president, but others that are running for president that are walking away from the right to life at precisely the time that we’ve been given a new era for life,” Pence says. Trump has said he may not participate in the debate because he has a massive lead in the polls and because it will be broadcast on Fox, a network Trump says has been hostile toward him.

Pence campaigned in Holstein earlier today (Thursday) and he’s scheduled to be in Neola early this (Thursday) evening to meet with Pottawattamie County Republicans. Pence has said his goal is to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties before the Iowa Caucuses.

(Radio Iowa) [Updated] – Iowa parents applied for 29,025 of the new state-funded Education Savings Accounts that will cover a child’s private school expenses.

The application deadline for a state-funded Education Savings Account was June 30. As of today, the private company handling those applications has confirmed income data for more than 17,481 students. The parents or guardians who filed the other requests for a child will need to provide more documents confirming their income level. State funding this year is limited to students who live in a household with an annual income at or below 300% of the federal poverty line.

Step two in this process will be to determine if there is a spot in a private school for each of these students. According to the governor’s office, there are only 9000 open spots in accredited Iowa private schools for the upcoming school year and it’s possible some of the ESAs won’t be activated because there was no private school option for the student. Sixty percent of the 17,481 applications that have been approved are for students already enrolled in a private school. The other 40% are for public school students planning to transfer to a private school.

Starting July 15, parents will be able to indicate if they have found a private school for their child. The company handling the program will confirm enrollment and that’s when the state
money will be available to cover private school tuition or other eligible expenses. According to the governor’s office, the total amount that’s spent on these new Education Savings Accounts won’t be available until October when public and private school enrollment is confirmed.

Data released by the governor’s office today indicates 60% of the ESA applications are for students already enrolled in a private school and 40% are for students who’ll be moving from a public school to a private school.

Trish Wilger, executive director of the Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education, said there is a limit to the number of students private schools will accept. “There’s some schools that are really full in certain parts of the state,” she said. “Some schools might have a situation where they had a lot of space in certain grades, but not others.”

When Governor Reynolds approved the program six months ago, officials estimated about 14,000 students would be approved. Twice that number of applications were submitted.

“Programs have been passed in other states and that was a big hurdle was informing parents that this option was out there for them, so I think in Iowa we’ve done a good job of getting the word out,” Wilger said.

Lawmakers budgeted $107 million for Education Savings Accounts in this first year. However, there is no limit on what the state will spend on the program and the final cost will depend upon how many students are approved. Iowa State Education Association president Mike Beranek said the governor and Republican lawmakers “have decided unlimited budgets are reserved for just a select few Iowans.” Beranek, who issued a written statement his afternoon, said 90% of Iowa families continue to choose the public schools in their neighborhood and “that’s where precious resources should be directed.”