Charter school groups looking to form new schools in Iowa can now bypass local school boards and turn directly to the state government for approval under a law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds Wednesday.
She signed it flanked by students in the youth empowerment nonprofit Starts Right Here, writing each letter of her name with a different ceremonial pen so she could broadly share the souvenirs. Leaders of the organization plan to apply to open a charter school.
Expanding the state’s charter school program was one of Reynolds’ marquee priorities in her “school choice” agenda unveiled at the start of the year.
The law allows groups to apply directly to the state Department of Education to form a charter, rather than going through a local school board. Groups can still choose to follow the prior process of applying to form a charter through the local board.
It will “significantly expand the pool of potential applicants” for charters while still holding them to “a rigorous approval process,” Reynolds said at the bill signing. Charter schools are publicly funded institutions that can follow separate curriculum or structure from traditional schools.
“(The new law) will encourage evidence based practices and innovative environments, establish models of success for Iowa schools and create new professional opportunities for teachers and other educators, creating an environment in Iowa that encourages alternative educational opportunities for those who need them,” Reynolds said. “And it doesn’t seek to undermine the traditional public school system.”
Reynolds has argued this year for giving parents a greater say over where their children go to school and how they are educated, and the charter school law is part of that “school choice” agenda.
“If there’s one thing that the pandemic taught us, it’s that parents should have the opportunity to choose what’s best for their children,” Reynolds said Wednesday.
Democrats and public school advocates have criticized the new charter school formation method, saying that the schools would not be accountable to local school boards or taxpayers despite using taxpayer money. They raised concerns that for-profit education management organizations from other states could set up schools in Iowa.
The Iowa State Education Association echoed those points in a statement from President Mike Beranek Wednesday afternoon.
“The new charter school law is an unfortunate experiment when we should be investing all of our education resources in the innovative and creative programs in our public schools,” he said. “Additionally, we have grave concerns about the lack of oversight, transparency and accountability in the new law. Iowa families should accept nothing less than the high standards and scrutiny with which our public schools are measured. Our students and school employees are worth it.”
Iowa currently has two charter schools, in Storm Lake and Maynard.
More:Charter school expansion bill heads to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk after Senate passage
How would Iowa’s new charter school law work?
Republicans say the charter schools formed under the new law will be part of Iowa’s public education system but with more flexibility to offer different types of education.
The schools cannot be religious and can’t charge tuition. Republicans say they must take all students who apply, provide special education services and follow the same health and safety requirements and civil rights laws that traditional public schools do.
But Democrats say the rules for charter schools under the new law are looser than for traditional public schools. During debate in the Iowa Legislature, they tried unsuccessfully to add additional oversight and bring the rules for charters into closer alignment with those governing traditional schools.
“We should be reinvesting in our public schools, not starting a completely new system that is certain to decrease public input and which is very likely to fail the students who take a chance on this very risky business model,” Sen. Claire Celsi, D-West Des Moines, said during the bill’s debate.
Reynolds said Wednesday “it is imperative that we have a strong public school system” and that she’s proposed increases in K-12 education funding each year as governor. But she said conventional schools may not work for all students, and charters provide another option.
“For some families, charter schools can provide an innovative, alternative learning model that motivates students to succeed and allows greater flexibility for districts and schools to focus on closing gaps in student opportunity and achievement for all ages,” she said.
More:The rules for Iowa charter schools are changing. How? And what are charter schools anyway?
Will Keeps, founder of the Starts Right Here youth empowerment nonprofit, said at the bill signing he hoped the law would “cut through that red tape” to create more options for students and at-risk youth in particular.
“What’s wrong with making sure these kids have another choice to be successful?” Keeps said at the ceremony. “What’s wrong with that? And we should all fight for that. No political reasons, but if it’s about the kids, make it focused about the kids, period.”
Some of the Starts Right Here members started snapping in support of Keeps’ statement.
Jill Rivera, 18 and a high school senior in Starts Right Here, said the extra flexibility from charter schools could have helped her during the pandemic. She said she was a good student before the world flipped because of COVID-19.
“It was too much at one time, and I have a lot of family stuff going on,” Rivera said. “And then here, Will actually has a flexible schedule. I can go to work and make the money I need to make so I can support myself while I also get my education.”
‘School choice’ a priority for Reynolds this year
Reynolds has proposed a number of other education-related initiatives this year, many of which have become law.
In January, she signed a law requiring schools to offer a 100{13aab5633489a05526ae1065595c074aeca3e93df6390063fabaebff206207ec} in-person learning option, a campaign priority for Republicans last fall in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when some districts offered instruction partially or fully online but did not offer full-time in-person instruction.
She signed a law this month that prevents school districts from turning down open enrollment requests based on voluntary diversity plans that take into account a student’s socioeconomic or English language learner status. Five school districts in Iowa have such plans.
Reynolds and other Republicans have said eliminating the voluntary diversity plans will give students more options for where to attend school and will prevent them from being trapped in a district by their socioeconomic status. Some school officials and Democrats say the law will hurt schools’ ability to balance enrollment in their districts and could result in students from predominantly white, wealthier families leaving the districts.
A separate bill expanding open enrollment options for students and increasing some education-related tax credits is still under debate in the Legislature.
Reynolds has not seen total success with her education agenda this year. Her proposal to create taxpayer-funded scholarships to help some students pay for private school drew concerns from some House Republicans and failed to advance this year.
More:Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds reacts to lifted crowd limits at 2021 Iowa state track meet
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
Nick Coltrain is a politics and data reporter for the Register. Reach him at [email protected] or at 515-284-8361.