As Iowa’s lawmakers passed an education reform bill out of conference committee late last week, certain parties didn’t get all of what they wanted.

One aspect Republican State Senator Jerry Behn recalls was his idea of an educational savings account plan.  The goal, Senator Behn points out is keeping schools competitive with one another.  He believes competition is what makes the state great and that his amendment failed to make it in as part of the whole education package despite having bi-partisan support.

“I had all 24 Republicans and one Democrat signed on; I had 25 supporters.  All 25 Democrats voted ‘no’.  It ended up tying (25-25) and an amendment fails, if it’s a tie, you have to have a majority.”

In the Iowa Senate, education reform bill passed 40-10 and Senator Behn was one of the ten that voted no.  He says the breaking point with him wasn’t that his amendment failed, its because the Senate Democrats wanted to replace the current assessments for teachers and students.

He thought the current tests and assessments that have been in the state for years have been functioning fine and so no new system needed to be put in place.

Now that it has passed through both the House and Senate, it is awaiting the governor’s signature to be made into law.