Student enrollment declined in 2025: Iowa’s K–12 enrollment in public, charter, and private schools fell by about 1 percent in 2025, driven primarily by a 1.5 percent drop—more than 7,000 students—in public school enrollment. Public school trends drive overall enrollment, not private school growth: While private school enrollment increased modestly in 2025, those gains account for only about one-t...
Iowa’s school income surtax, first adopted in 1971, is a district-level tax calculated as a percentage of a taxpayer’s Iowa income tax liability and used to support discretionary school programs. Districts may combine the surtax with property taxes to fund the Instructional Support Levy (ISL) and the voter-approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL), adjusting the surtax rate annually to mee...
Iowa’s K–12 enrollment is declining as birth rates fall and fewer young families move into the state, and that trend is expected to continue for at least the next decade. Enrollment drives school funding, which means shrinking student counts—especially in small districts—create financial pressure and push more districts onto the “budget guarantee,” shifting costs onto local property taxpayers. Dis...
School districts are the single largest driver of Iowa property taxes, yet school spending is rarely included in reform discussions. Other states are limiting school budgets to control local taxes, with New Hampshire and South Dakota currently demonstrating that education can’t be exempt from spending discipline. Iowa can deliver meaningful property tax relief only by applying spending limits to s...
School bond campaigns often highlight levy rates to suggest affordability, but that figure alone doesn’t reveal how districts spend—or the true cost to taxpayers and students. Looking at districtwide per-student expenditures provides a clearer picture of financial trends and priorities. For instance, Des Moines’ per-student spending is up 24% in five years, and Southeast Polk’s has risen 66%. Dist...
Regular attendance is one of the most important predictors of student success. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw firsthand how inconsistent attendance undermined learning, lowered test scores, and set back student achievement across the country. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of scheduled school days or instructional hours during a grading period. In an 180-day school yea...
Schools have a core mission: to educate students. In every facet of life, a mission should guide how funds are spent. In education, that means every dollar should first support teaching and learning needs. Only after those needs are met should districts fund what’s considered “extra.” Unfortunately, that prioritization may not be happening in the Atlantic Community School District (CSD). During 2...
The Instructional Support Levy (ISL) is one of the main tools available to Iowa school districts to supplement state funding for educational programs. While the state sets limits on how much can be spent per student, the ISL provides districts with a way to go beyond that cap—funding additional staff, classroom resources, and other instructional needs. Because the levy can significantly affect loc...
The DOGE Taskforce recognizes that school districts are not only the primary driver of property tax bills, but that Iowa’s educational outcomes are falling short despite significant taxpayer investment. One of the taskforce’s key recommendations for improving outcomes is the implementation of merit pay for teachers. Under a merit-based system, teacher compensation would be directly linked to stud...
What Iowa’s $11.5 Billion in School Funding Reveals in a Post-SCOTUS Landscape Each year, the Iowa legislature revisits the question of how much funding to allocate toward K–12 public education. At the same time, property taxpayers review proposed spending requests from their local school districts. And not to be left out, the federal government invests in K-12 education in Iowa, too. Now, with ...
How school districts spend our tax dollars is important to watch—but just as important is understanding what taxpayers are getting in return. K-12 education is the largest consumer of Iowa’s General Fund revenues (such as income and sales taxes) and local property tax dollars. With such a significant investment, Iowans deserve to see strong academic outcomes. Unfortunately, too many of Iowa’s publ...
1 out of every 3 Iowa third graders cannot read at grade level. Learning to read is one of the most important milestones in a child’s education. But if a child hasn’t learned to read by the end of third grade, they’re likely to struggle throughout the rest of their school years. That’s because starting in fourth grade, the focus of education shifts. Instead of learning how to read, students are ...
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This article was published in The Gazette. House File 2545 will strengthen Iowa’s social studies standards and free Iowa from the radical materials imposed by extremist organizations who intend to rewrite history. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law House File 2545, which begins to restore and strengthen American History and Western Civilization as part of Iowa’s K-12 social studies standards. ...
The federal government may be a mess, but in Georgia and Iowa, things are getting done. Kimberley Strassel, a member of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, was the keynote speaker at this year’s annual Georgia Freedom Dinner hosted by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. Strassel’s writing, especially her weekly “Potomac Watch” column, typically involves national politics and th...
This article was published in the Ames Tribune. Leaving an entire system on autopilot does a disservice to students, school districts, and the taxpayer. Governor Kim Reynolds has introduced legislation aimed at reforming the state’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs), stirring vigorous debate among the public. Some of the bill’s reforms could directly affect property taxes, but their signi...
This article was published in the Des Moines Register. American history is under attack. A bill in Iowa would restore civics education. For decades a crisis has existed in schools across the nation. Survey after survey demonstrates that students are not receiving an adequate education in American History, American Government, or Western Civilization. The decline in civic education and the [&hellip...
At a time when the economic environment is forcing families to budget for gasoline and groceries while property taxes keep climbing, school districts would do well to focus on projects directly related to the education of children. On November 7, 2023, 34 school districts will ask voters to approve bond questions totaling more than $1.2 billion across 50 counties in […]
Over 18,500 students in 96 counties have been approved and are taking advantage of Iowa’s “Student First” ESA program. Iowa’s lawmakers enacted the Students First Act in late-January 2023, creating universal education savings accounts (ESAs) for Iowa students. Funded with the state’s share of per pupil spending, which is currently $7,635, the ESAs will soon be available to every student […]
Whether it is the passage of a universal ESA or the largest tax reform in Iowa's history, Governor Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Legislature have made some big changes that have made Iowa a great place to live, work, and raise a family. Two years ago, no state gave all parents money to help educate their children.
The Students First Act is a victory for families across Iowa. Last fall when ITR Foundation wondered aloud what might happen with education in 2023, we were optimistic that it could be something big. After all, Governor Kim Reynolds had just won re-election by nearly 20 points after making school choice the focal point of her campaign. The Senate had […]
The microschools that have sprouted in recent years, and the new ones that are now appearing, span a wide variety of educational philosophies and approaches, from structured “classical” models to unstructured “unschooling” models, and everything in between. Iowa lawmakers are poised to debate additional school choice legislation this year. If passed, parents will be given even more flexibility on ...
School choice can take many shapes and sizes. We will all soon find out exactly what Governor Reynolds and the legislature have in mind for Iowa. When Iowa House Republicans released committee assignments for the 2023 legislative session, one new committee stood out above the rest: the Education Reform Committee. Speaker Pat Grassley will chair the committee that he explained will […]
If anything good has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic it is the growing awareness by parents across the nation about what is being taught in schools. This is especially true concerning civic education. For decades a crisis has existed over the decline of civic education. Numerous surveys and studies have shown that at all grade levels, including higher education, students do not have an adequate ...
Rural citizens and legislators are concerned that school choice would take critical funding away from their local schools. ITR Foundation Deputy Director Walt Rogers sat down with Need to Know host Jeff Angelo to debunk this myth and explain how school choice would improve education quality through the competition. The discussion starts at the 9:25 minute mark.