Iowa lawmakers battle between school diversity or school choice

(The Center Square) – Iowa is among the many states debating the promotion of student diversity versus the primacy of parental and guardian choice.

The state’s recently concluded legislative session provides an example.

“School choice shouldn’t be limited to those who have the financial means or are lucky to live in a district that’s confident enough to allow open enrollment,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said in her 2021 Condition of the State address. “So let’s make choice an option for everyone. We can do that by making open enrollment available in all districts.”

Open enrollment is already popular in Iowa. Approximately 35,000 students have chosen public schools outside their local district this school year, according to education officials.

One hurdle to parental choice and better schools was school district diversity standards put in place over a decade ago. Four school districts (Des Moines, Waterloo, Davenport, Postville, and West Liberty) under the direction of boards chose to set quotas that often prevent students from transferring to other districts.

In some cases, more affluent parents and guardians would be denied permission to move their students from the district, but non-native English-speaking students also faced roadblocks. Records also indicate many people of color were confined to their local districts.

After long debates in the legislature, House File 228 passed both houses. The governor signed the bill eliminating the diversity standards from consideration on May 12.

Sen. Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, is Chairman of the Senate Education Committee. “What we’re talking about is nearly 60,000 students across the state of Iowa that weren’t given the same opportunity to choose what’s best for their child’s educational needs,” Sinclair told WOI News. “That just flew in the face of what open enrollment is.”

The bill also fixed a glitch.

The March 1 deadline for transfer applications affecting most students had passed by the time the bill completed its circuit to the governor. The new legislation provides a dozen deadline exemptions for students such as moving residences, changes in parents’ marital status, and other common circumstances.

Scott Woodruff, and attorney with Homeschool Legal Defense Association, has heard from families about their struggles with the old law. “I worked with a family recently who was heartbroken when their hopes for their child were undercut because the district—citing their voluntary diversity plan—refused to approve their open enrollment request,” he told The Center Square. “They can’t make up that lost year, but disappointments like this should now be a thing of the past.”

Sen. Eric Giddens, D-Cedar Falls, worrys the repeal of the diversity plans will lead back to a form of segregation, white flight, “The best educational setting for a student is one that has the diversity that reflects the local community,” he told The Center Square. “Your school is a lot more than reading, writing and arithmetic; it’s how to live with other people, work with them, and be prepared for that once they’re out of school.”

He says students leaving their district will produce a “less well-rounded experience” for the entire school community. Giddens has been a Cedar Falls school board member and educator at University of Northern Iowa.

The Tax Education Foundation (TEF) and the Kirkwood Institute, two public policy organizations working together to research open enrollment, came across information from the Des Moines school board. The board had mistakenly posted online the district’s rationale for denying multiple open enrollment requests for specific students with names included.

The most inflammatory requests asked to depart the district because of alleged bullying, assault, and even rape. The alleged rape victim “no longer feels safe because the accused follows her around school,” according to the board’s description. Yet she was denied under diversity rules.

TEF and Kirkwood prepared a report on the revelations and the issues involved, which became a central part of the discussions in the legislature.

TEF Deputy Director Walt Rogers said the report furthered the passage of the legislation. “I think that most people associated with the school district would agree that the parents having the freedom to choose what’s best for their child is of utmost importance,” Rogers told The Center Square.

Other school choice initiatives made include a new law that allows new charter schools seeking approval to go around local school boards and turn directly to the state government for assent.

Another law provides deductions for school books as a benefit to any students at home, especially full-time homeschoolers.

“The newly available tuition and textbook tax credit is definitely going to make Iowa a more desirable destination for homeschool families who are relocating,” Woodruff.

He added elected officials have gained bonus points with the public.

“The Iowa legislature burnished its credentials as a supporter of giving parents meaningful options for educating their children. People are going to notice.”

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