Des Moines Register: As expanded school choice benefits Iowans, let’s bring it nationwide

Private and charter schools were created to fill the gaps that public education could not fill. Public schools can be effective at teaching students. However, that does not mean they will be.

By Zachary Harnden, Des Moines Register, January 22, 2024

Private and charter schools were created to fill the gaps that public education could not fill. Public schools can be effective at teaching students. However, that does not mean they will be.

Each year, National School Choice Week is observed during the final week of January, but it’s significance is far greater to students like me across the state of Iowa. In fact, school choice widely well received, being one of the few nonpartisan issues that is popular throughout the country; and not just with Republican primary voters, but also among 71% of all voters, across all demographics and the general electorate. 

Here in Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Students First Act will make state education funding universally available for K-12 students who choose to attend private schools. That means that students are not be relegated to a school system based on their ZIP code. Instead, parents are empowered to choose the education that best meets their child’s unique needs to provide them the resources they need to excel.

I am one of the many students in Iowa who has reaped the benefits of school choice. As the oldest of five children who grew up in a home that centered around faith and family, when it was time to choose a high school, I wanted an education that would allow me to grow academically and spiritually, and provide opportunities to serve my community.  My heart was set on Dowling Catholic, but the cost posed a significant barrier to my attendance.

Instead of being limited to the schools that I was zoned for, scholarships and Iowa’s school choice tax credit allowed me to attend Dowling Catholic, where I continued to learn, grow, and challenge expectations thanks to the supportive teachers and staff who worked hard to help every student achieve their full potential.

At Dowling, I participated in many activities, including football, student government, Student Philanthropy Council, and a men’s faith group that still meets today. It was the Speech and Debate Team, however, that was the most impactful for me. Most public high schools in my area didn’t offer Speech and Debate, so I wouldn’t have been able to participate if it weren’t for private school. I won four state titles with Speech and Debate during high school, which earned me the “Academic All-American” title and a partial debate scholarship to college.

Since then, I have started at Simpson College as a pre-law student and become active in politics and issue advocacy. I owe where I am today to the support programs and scholarships available in my state, but I recognize for most kids, that is not enough to make private education possible.

It’s vital to the future of Iowa’s children that our lawmakers find other ways to support education freedom here and for students across America like through the Educational Choice for Children Act, or ECCA, a federal tax credit scholarship bill that would help up to 2 million students access a school or education service of their parents’ choice.  

The ECCA would fund scholarships with private donations, not federal money, and donors would receive a federal tax credit. Students could use scholarships for tuition, tutoring to address learning loss, special needs services, education technology, and more. The bill would triple the number of students benefitting from private school choice programs and it would complement the programs already in effect in 31 states, while creating new opportunities in 19 states that lack the option of school choice. The legislation has more than 100 House co-sponsors and more than two dozen Senate co-sponsors.

One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in my first year at Dowling Catholic. As class president, I regularly asked my peers about what would make the school better. My classmates had many opinions on what would make a great school, but I quickly learned that a “one size fits all” plan wouldn’t work. I can’t imagine applying the same logic to a child’s education.

Private and charter schools were created to fill the gaps that public education could not fill. Public schools can be effective at teaching students. However, that does not mean they will be effective at teaching every student; the same can be said of private schools. I believe that students should attend the school that best fits their needs, and their zip code shouldn’t stand in the way. I implore lawmakers to support for school choice by supporting the ECCA so that every child has the opportunity to achieve academic success.

Read the full article by the Des Moines Register here.

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