One gubernatorial candidate made one claim the center of his campaign for governor: that Iowa’s private schools take ESA dollars with no real financial accountability attached. It’s a serious charge. It’s also one that doesn’t survive five minutes with the actual accreditation standards.
Our schools value accreditation. We know accreditation. We did something he and his staff haven’t (apparently) done: we read them.
Every Christian school in Iowa that pursues independent accreditation, whether through ACSI, Cognia, CSI, ISACS, or NLSA (among others), signs up for a financial review it didn’t have to take on. State accreditation for private schools was sitting right there, requiring nothing more than a desk audit and a periodic paperwork check. Iowa’s independently accredited schools chose the harder road anyway.
Here’s what that road actually looks like. ACSI requires an external CPA, someone with no vested interest in the school, to review its finances at both initial accreditation and every renewal, and schools must submit an annual statement of financial practices with their accreditation report. ISACS requires a full-opinion, independent financial audit at least once every three years, and schools have to respond in writing to whatever the auditors flag. Cognia builds annual financial audits directly into its standards and requires schools to demonstrate financial stability before accreditation is even granted. Across the board, smaller schools face regular financial reviews and larger ones face full audits, and poor performance in that area is grounds for losing accreditation entirely, which means losing ESA eligibility too.
Compare that to the state’s own accreditation track. Although public districts are supposed to be audited (with varying levels of compliance and inconsistent enforcement), what penalties are there when things are off? Private schools lose their accreditation and access to every publicly available benefit. Public schools? Just work toward improvement at some level and brave the public relations storm. No risk of losing…anything.
So when a politician campaigns on the idea that private schools are “unaccountable,” a simple question follows: unaccountable to whom? Not to their accreditors, who show up, dig into the books, and have actually pulled accreditation from Iowa schools that didn’t measure up. State-accredited schools have never faced that consequence. Not to parents, who leave the moment they lose confidence and take their children, and their ESA dollars, with them. And notably, not even to Sand’s own audit, which after all the press conferences and all the document disputes, found no evidence of misspent ESA funds.
Iowa’s independently accredited schools operate under a framework established in state law, one that requires meeting standards set by approved accrediting agencies, not a loophole around them. And on the specific question of financial accountability, that framework asks more of these schools than the state ever has. The state doesn’t audit grocery stores accepting SNAP dollars or contractors building roads for the DOT. It doesn’t need to here, either, because these accrediting agencies are already doing the work, with teeth Iowa’s own accreditation process doesn’t have.
None of this means Iowa’s private schools are perfect, or that every question about oversight is illegitimate. Legitimate questions deserve honest answers. But “private schools face no financial accountability” isn’t a legitimate question. It’s a talking point, and the accreditation standards say otherwise. It’s like the latest attack on private schools saying private schools “don’t have to take everybody.” Neither does any one public school building. Why the double-standard? Is it anti-religious bigotry? Is it tribalism? Institutional protectionism? A lack of belief that one model can adequately compete? We stand ready to help public schools, charter schools, and homeschoolers succeed and get whatever resources they need. We are the party of “and.” All ships should rise. Parents and students should have choices regardless of income. We encourage you to support candidates for office who champion parents and students over systems and pursue policies that encourage choices over homogeny and monopoly.
IACS welcomes the chance to walk any legislator, reporter, or skeptical parent through accreditation standards and practices. The process is open and available for review. Some professional campaigners just choose not to pursue the truth. Ask your gubernatorial and state house candidates where they are at on school choice and parental rights. And don’t take lame political talking points for an answer.