Governor Kim Reynolds recently signed into law a controversial bill that will allow an Iowa family to use taxpayer funds to pay for private school tuition. 

The Students First Act passed the Iowa House and Senate and will create education savings accounts using money from the state budget for students to attend a private school. Perry School District Superintendent Clark Wicks believes this piece of legislation is not in the best interest of public schools. 

“It’s difficult to see what the ultimate purpose of this bill is because they are championing it as a ‘school choice,’ voucher program, when kids have school choice already.” 

Wicks says that this legislation will cost taxpayers $300 million per year which he thinks that money could be put to use in better areas. 

“We are not attacking what we need to attack. One of the big things is trying to attract and retain teachers. This has been a great opportunity to do that because the educational landscape is changing mightily. We do not have near the number of people going into education and whether it’s private or public schools.” 

Wicks notes that shifting dollars from public to private schools creates elitist education for just a few students. The bill was signed into law on January 24th.