Iowa lawmakers OK public money for private school students – Daily Press

(Charlie Neibergall/AP) DES MOINES, Iowa — Any Iowa student who wants to attend a private school could use public money to pay for tuition or other expenses under a plan approved early Tuesday by the Legislature, making the state the third to pass a measure that allows such spending with few restrictions.The governor and Republican legislators have argued that they support the state’s public schools but that all families should be able to send their children to private school, not just those wealthy enough to afford the tuition.They note that if students opt for private school, their $7,600 in per-pupil support would follow them to the private institution, but the plan would send $1,200 to the public school districts where the students resides.Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, said Democrats were overstating what the private school funding would mean to public schools.

They noted that nearly half of Iowa’s 99 counties don’t have a private school and that most of the new funding will go to schools in the state’s largest cities.Much of that outcome depends on the quality of a private school, and that can vary dramatically, Welner said in an email.