A few weeks ago, in her Condition of the State address, Iowa’s governor told us how she was going to Illinois this spring to convince businesses to come to Iowa.
Predictably, she trashed our neighbors to the east. Republican governors from Iowa love to do this.
Reynolds even tried out the line of attack she would use to convince those Illinois businesses to move across the Mississippi River: Taxes, regulations, crime. Their “education system is failing,” she said.
The governor’s condescending description of Illinois drew smug laughter and applause from her colleagues in the Legislature.
Then, the nation’s education report card came out.
Uh, oh.
Iowa’s 4th grade math scores ranked the state 30th in the nation, down from 7th.
Iowa’s 8th grade math scores put us at 23rd, down from 15th.
What’s more, if you compare Iowa’s scores with those in Illinois, they’re pretty much the same.
Illinois!
Iowa’s average 4th grade math score was 237, while Illinois was at 236. Iowa’s 8th grade math score was 275, but the Illinois score was 277. In reading, Iowa 4th graders came in at 215 and Illinois at 214. In 8th grade reading, Iowa was at 261, but Illinois was at 262.
These are the same tests Reynolds previously used to boast of Iowa’s superiority. How can she now go to Illinois and trash its “failing” school system when Iowa test scores are the same?
Sensing a problem, the governor proposed a plan last week to address it. Her plan includes more testing for Iowa school kids and intervention when it’s needed. She’s also suggested the state education department develop assistance for teachers and “family-centered resources” to send home to parents so they can help their kids after they get home from work.
These seem like prudent ideas, but it’s not clear to me how cash-strapped school districts will find wherewithal for this additional intervention. Already, the governor’s’ K-12 funding plan fails to provide enough money to even match inflation. Iowa’s working parents are pretty busy, too, and many of them already help their kids with their studies.
Still, it seems like Iowa should do more for our kids, and I have an idea: Let’s invest in private tutors.
Iowa already has proved itself willing to reimburse some families for their private education expenses, and it’s costing taxpayers $1 billion over four years to do it. The catch is parents have to enroll their kids in a private school to get the money.
Why not take some of that $1 billion and help pay the private tutoring expenses for any Iowa family that needs it? Why not make that money available to the many, not just the few?
School kids would get help from qualified tutors, and they wouldn’t have to uproot themselves and move to a private school.
Most parents don’t want to move their kids to private schools, anyway. Or can’t. Rural areas tend to have relatively few private school options, and despite the enticement to move, more than 90 percent of Iowa school kids are still going to public schools; only 8 percent go to private schools.
Other states are investing in tutors. They found the tutoring money that was included in Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan law came in pretty handy during the pandemic, so now they’re beginning to take some of their own state funds to keep the tutoring programs going.
In an article about alternatives to “school choice” laws, Paul Glastris, editor in chief of the Washington Monthly, wrote this month, “affluent parents have long known the value of paying private tutors to boost their kids’ academic success.” Why not help the average family that wants to see their children do better in school but can’t afford the cost?
Last August, Iowa’s education department announced that it was devoting $3 million in federal funds from Biden’s American Rescue Plan toward an online literacy tutoring program for elementary school students, but the program is only available at no cost through this summer.
Why not do more?
As with most proposals, this would need some study. I’ve seen reports suggesting that state-funded tutoring programs work well in some places, while others still need to prove their worth.
I also worry the governor and Republican lawmakers, if they were even interested in this idea, would simply cannibalize already stingy public-school spending to pay for it. That would be wrong. Hopefully parents would object if this were to happen. I would object, too.
Let me be clear: Iowa’s public schools need more money. They have been shortchanged for years, and our state ought to prioritize funds for public school classrooms: That is to say, the classrooms where the vast majority of Iowa kids go to school.
As for the taxpayer money going to reimburse families for private education expenses, it shouldn’t be reserved for just the relative few who are willing — or able — to enroll their children in private schools.
Kim Reynolds is proud of saying Iowa is a leader in education choice.
Wouldn’t it be nice if working class families had the choice to hire a tutor?
Their kids might do better on math tests, they wouldn’t have to change schools and parents would be happier.
What’s wrong with that?
Who knows, the governor’s job-raiding trip to Illinois might even be more successful.
This story first published in Iowa Capital Dispatch. Read the original here.
