Back on November 30, 2022 we shared a post entitled “School Choice Myths” followed by a series of posts in December of 2022 highlighting each myth separately. With old and new myths circulating this election season, we thought we’d revisit this topic and clear up misconceptions about private schools, Christian Schools in particular, and school choice programs in general:
Introduction and Basic Principles
We believe, as most Iowans do, that parents are the primary educators of their children and are ultimately responsible for their upbringing. We also believe that the State of Iowa has a compelling (and state Constitutional) interest in ensuring every child has a quality, basic education.
In a society that compels education, currently pays for every child to obtain a government-run education, and can enforce up to a 30 day jail sentence and a $1,000 fine on parents for failing to ensure a child obtains an approved education; we believe the least the state should do is ensure each parent is empowered to choose the education that best meets their child’s needs. This would accomplish the state’s compelling interest in every child being educated while respecting the right of parents to direct that education.
Opponents of empowering parents with more choices in education say that we already have school choice – anyone can simply pay for a private education or sacrifice an income and educate at home. This tired argument ignores the financial realities of most Iowa families and perpetuates a system where only wealthier families and a limited number of lower income families (through scholarships) actually have that choice. We don’t believe denying lower-income, middle-income, and parents with children who need something different than their neighborhood school district can provide is a compassionate position. We don’t believe that socio-economic segregation brought about by failing to empower lower- and middle-income families to make choices is in the best interest of those families, regardless of sector but especially in education. Even if every public school building could meet the needs of every child in the area, we believe the state owes parents options in respect of their natural role as primary caregivers and educators.
Below are a number of myths surrounding educational choice (also known as “school choice”). We hope it helps allay fears and allows you to confidently support programs that give every child in Iowa the opportunity to thrive.
Myth Number 1: Educational choice programs drain resources from an already underfunded public school system. (“Public dollars for public schools.”)
There is a philosophical and a practical answer this most-common myth:
- Philosophical Answer – We believe that it is our Biblical obligation to care about the education that the majority of Iowans will still choose even with a universal school choice program now in place. Therefore, we want to see our public schools succeed as well and would not support a program we believed had a chance of harming any child’s educational environment. We believe Iowa can walk and chew gum at the same time. Empower families and ensure that the public school system designed to make sure no one is left uneducated has the resources it needs to educate well.
- Practical Answer – If it were true that educational choice programs “drained” public schools of funding, then the state would be obligated to make up that difference. This has, however, never been the case in states with large choice programs. Iowa choice advocates didn’t reinvent the wheel. Many types of programs have been implemented in dozens of states and none have found that public schools are damaged by choice programs, including in Iowa. According to research compiled by EdChoice, “Researchers have conducted 52 analyses on the fiscal effects of private school choice programs. Forty-seven found these programs generated overall fiscal savings for taxpayers; four found programs were cost-neutral; and one found a Louisiana program for students with exceptional special needs generated net costs.” Furthermore, we have not found a single example of a public school building or district struggling because of an educational choice program. States with larger programs still fund public education at similar or greater levels and public schools have increased per-pupil expenditures as taxpayer money continues to roll in with slightly fewer students to educate. Iowa’s supplemental state aide package each year has not kept up with inflation. But it hasn’t had to. Between property taxes, sales taxes, state aide, federal funds, and other income sources; public school funding increases in Iowa over the last 10-15 years has far exceeded inflation. When people say “public education funding hasn’t kept up with inflation,” they aren’t telling you the whole story. They are pointing out the smaller growth of just one relatively small piece of the puzzle. Iowa’s public schools are approaching $20K per student per year. How much is enough? It’s also worth noting that public schools get over $1,600 for every student who receives an ESA each year regardless of whether that child has ever or would ever have enrolled in that school. That’s pretty generous…
Public dollars should go to educate the public, not just be limited to public institutions at the exclusion of other providers when those providers may be the best choice for an education the state compels. Nonpublic school students and their families are members of the public too and these are their dollars as well. In almost every other area of government spending (universal preschool, higher education research and tuition grants, private contractors building infrastructure or providing services to government, SNAP and other food programs, etc.), private providers are critical and aren’t treated like an existential threat to public institutions. There is zero reason for education to be different.
Myth Number 2: Educational Choice will leave the most disadvantaged and difficult-to-educate students in the public school system.
Although some disaffected parents or hard-to-reach students will always exist, educational choice programs have proven to be part of the solution. Many parents feel helpless if their neighborhood public school isn’t the right fit for their child. Most lower-income families or students with with special needs never imagine private school as an option. Open enrollment isn’t always an option for a family who lives too far from a neighboring district. Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) empower and motivate these families. Iowa’s private schools welcome and successfully educate many students with special needs and circumstances. Iowa’s private schools want to welcome more disadvantaged and hard-to-reach children, but family income and lack of funding from state and federal sources for these students attending anything other than a public school make that challenging. We have yet to find an example of tax credit programs, vouchers, ESAs, or other choice programs decreasing diversity or emptying public schools of the “easy” or “good” kids. In fact, choice programs increase opportunities for all students and help public schools by sharing the work. In Iowa, our schools have shown a dramatic increase in all areas of diversity: socio-economic, race, and even schools forming to reach new demographics and provide new academic and vocational emphases.
Research shows that participants in tax credit scholarship programs, vouchers, and ESAs tend to be the most academically behind and that, given time, they tend to outperform their peers when afforded the opportunity to learn in the environment that best meets their needs. In Iowa, we anticipated test scores would dip initially and then gradually increase. They haven’t dipped. Iowa’s private schools are taking some of the hardest cases and are creating lifelong learners with the skills needed to succeed in post-secondary institutions, vocational training programs, or the workforce straight out of high school.
We should celebrate that the very purpose and nature of public schools is to provide an education to all children who enter their doors, even the hardest cases. Often districts still have to send students with profound or unique needs out of district or even out of state to provide a quality education for them. Although never ideal to make a child travel further than most for school, that’s why we have a public education system! Iowans should be grateful there is a place in school for every Iowan because of the various types of education models in the state! Let’s continue letting Iowa’s private schools help alleviate some of the demand for special needs services by opening up options for these students. Everyone wins.
Myth Number 3: Private schools are unaccountable.
Perhaps the most offensive and flagrantly misleading arguments against school choice programs is that private schools aren’t “accountable.” In Iowa, an education organization or location is not considered a “school” unless it is accredited by the state or an approved national or regional accrediting body.
Starting in 2013, Iowa’s private schools were finally able to be “independently accredited” by reputable third party accrediting agencies. These agencies are the gold standard in accreditation. Around the same time, state accreditation went from a model of on-site visits every five years to a desk audit model. Independent accrediting agencies did not change. Almost every Christian school in the state of Iowa is independently accredited, and have the additional burden (over state accreditation) of continuous improvement standards, regular on-site visits, and the risk of losing their accreditation if they don’t perform. Iowa’s Christian and independent, nonsectarian schools pay to be scrutinized by their accrediting bodies and committees of their peers and are held to a much higher standard than state accreditation. We don’t believe there is anything wrong with state accreditation for public schools or private schools that choose it – it simply isn’t as intense or accountability-laden as accreditations pursued by most IACS members and other private schools in the state who choose another agency.
Additionally, and most importantly, Iowa’s private schools are ultimately accountable to parents. Unlike public schools, private schools that underperform or struggle financially close. Parents take their children somewhere else as they vote with their feet. There is no property tax or sales tax safety net. There’s rarely another educational institution to consolidate with. Private schools deliver. When they don’t, they fail. That is the ultimate accountability.
We’ve found that most “accountability measures” foisted on public schools have done little but hamper our public school friends’ ability to educate. We believe there is room to reduce regulation and unnecessary and damaging “accountability” measures on public schools to free up resources and the ability to innovate in public schools. We also believe that it is counter-productive and untenable to over-regulate private schools and that these “accountability” and curriculum mandates quickly bump up against a private school’s constitutional right to operate as a religious school. Homogenizing schools by making them all “accountable” in the same way that has caused parents to look elsewhere isn’t good policy. It’s institutional protectionism, a refusal to free up public schools to educate without unnecessary burdens, and often the result of anti-religious bigotry.
More information on private school accreditation, financial reviews and audits, and other accountability measures can be found here.
Myth Number 4: Educational choice violates the principle of separation of Church and state.
We hear this argument less and less as educational programs grow across the nation, as polling shows Americans support these programs overwhelmingly, and as opponents of educational choice lose in court over and over again. If we are honest, there will always be those who simply don’t like the very idea of any child receiving a religious education.
We’ve written extensively about this and welcome you to read through the relevant court cases and summaries of the jurisprudence on the subject. This subject is a dead horse. Let’s stop beating it.
From general benefit programs, to scholarship and voucher programs, to employment and religious policies of religious schools; the courts have been clear that it is not a violation of Constitutional principals to include religious schools in programming of about any nature and that excluding them is actually a violation of the rights of parents and religious schools.
Myth Number 5: Inequity grows because private schools don’t have to take everyone.
The charge to educate every child (in their assigned area) who comes to them for an education is one of the most beautiful things about public schools and should be celebrated! It’s what makes public schools unique and it is what is distinctive about their model. That being said, we should be very clear that not every public school building has to take every child. If a student has a special need or simply wants a special type of programing, your neighborhood public school is not obligated to provide it. The district may set up that service or programming at another location and bus that student all the way across town to participate. There are even students educated out of state because no school in Iowa can meet their unique need. Whether this is optimal or not, it is an understandable reality. Why would we impose a different and more onerous standard on a single private school building with a different mission and fewer resources at its disposal? If any one public school isn’t required to serve EVERY child in any particular building, why should we require or treat differently any one private school building?
The argument that “private schools don’t have to take everyone” is a double-standard. Between Iowa’s public schools, charter schools, online schools, and other options; we have a series of options that continues to meet the needs of every child while providing increased choice and efficiency.
Myth Number 6: Iowa already gives private schools millions of dollars.
Iowa doesn’t give any Iowa private school any dollars directly. The state provides money to public school districts to provide students in grades K-12 transportation and used to provide a very small amount of textbook and technology funding. These products and services are owned by the public school district and are accessed through them or AEAs.
The state allows donors to claim a tax credit and parents to receive tuition help from those private dollars utilizing the Educational Opportunities Act (or “School Tuition Organization” or STO program). These dollars are private dollars, a deferral of revenue from the state, and saves the state tens of millions of dollars each year according to the Iowa Department of Revenue.
The state utilizes federal title dollars through public districts and AEAs to serve nonpublic school students in our private schools. It’s Federal law and the right thing to do but private schools don’t get any cash to spend through these programs.
Iowa also has a personal tuition and textbook tax credit that helps some families offset tuition and fees if they itemize. This program is for public and private school parents and approximately 70% of claims are public school families receiving a tax credit for fees paid for their public school students.
There isn’t a program where the state writes a check to a private school. The state has chosen to make small investments in individual students through these programs and federal title funding is mandated under federal law and the money ends at the public school. These public schools and AEAs also take a small percentage (5-10%) of that money for “administrative” costs, meaning that public schools currently profit off of services provided to nonpublic school students not being educated in their own classrooms. Between the millions in savings each year via the STO tax credit program and the administrative costs held back by public school districts; private schools are able to retain some students who may otherwise not be able to make it work without those services but at tremendous savings to the state and with public schools making money too.
Even our universal ESA program does not directly fund private schools. It provides a portion of funds that would have gone to the public school for that student to his/her parents to use at a private school or other approved expenses. The money goes to parents first via a well-regulated system administered by the Iowa Department of Education. We are asking for Iowa to continue funding parents for the benefit of their children – not any one institution.
Myth Number 7: Iowans don’t support educational choice programs.
Iowa’s primary election and general election results combined with the latest polling beg to differ. When ESAs are accurately described and the polling methods are in line with industry standards, 62-76% of Iowans and voters across the country support ESAs. The results have been clear and consistent. We’ll update this post occasionally with more recent polling numbers but more than half of Iowans and way more Iowa parents support choice. Why wouldn’t they?!
Myth Number 8: School choice programs come with “strings attached.”
Although there are a few examples of programs across the nation with “accountability” measures in place (like state testing, accreditation standards, etc.), we have yet to see overly onerous “strings” attached to any program nor do we see them creeping in as the program ages. Iowa’s ESA requires students who utilize ESA funding take the state test. It requires they attend an accredited nonpublic school.
The simple fact is this: we fight Democratic and Republican mandates and restrictions every year at the state Capitol. It’s extremely tempting to impose requirements on schools to “fix” the issue that is most important to the legislator and/or his/her constituent who feels it is more important than any other and that schools “have to” be a part of the solution. We are usually successful in fending off those attacks (which is what they are – attacks on our autonomy and mission) and would like to continue to do the same work within an environment that respects the rights and role of parents to direct their child’s education.
Iowa’s school choice coalition, including IACS, is committed to not supporting a bill with requirements that negatively impact our autonomy or mission. Iowa’s Students First Act, which created our ESA program, even doubles down on protections for private school autonomy and religious liberty.
Myth Number 9: Any expansion of school choice will hurt rural schools.
We’ve never seen this play out in other states with programs or in other nations with universal school choice (which is commonplace in Europe and other parts of the world). It is a fear without a basis. Since the Students First Act was passed, we haven’t seen evidence it is harming rural schools.
If a rural district “can’t afford” to lose a family or two to another option, that is a separate issue that shouldn’t preclude every other family in the state wanting or needing another option from having one. There are multiple solutions for rural districts struggling to survive and maintain their identity and denying children opportunity and disrespecting the rights and role of parents shouldn’t be one of those solutions. Most importantly, however, is that there hasn’t been a demonstrable threat to rural public schools even with gold-standard universal choice programs. It simply hasn’t been a significant issue. As a matter of fact, there are plenty of beautiful stories about rural public and private school options working together for the betterment of their communities.
Myth Number 10: It’ll never pass.
This myth was a part of our 2022 post on this subject and we just had to leave it here. It passed. It’s working. With almost 50,000 students participating, let’s not steal their futures because some Iowans hate religion or worship at the threshold of particular type of institution at the expense of what’s right for students who need something different.
Bottom Line:
The research shows public and private schools benefit when parents have choices. The moral obligation of the state is to respect the natural role and responsibilities of parents. Iowa’s students deserve choices. Pluralism and diversity in education benefit everyone. Iowa has been creating a culture of funding students over systems, respecting the unique needs and desires of families, and celebrating educational delivery mechanisms that give students the best shot at finding the perfect fit and reaching their God-given potential.