Iowa vouchers drive inequality

In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Program enacted plans for education, disease and a wide range of other social programs. It dismantled Jim Crow laws in the south, ensured voting rights for African Americans, brought on the food stamp program and gave us Medicare and Medicaid among other social programs that have benefited the oppressed, elderly and American society in general. The Great Society agenda was to level educational opportunity for all citizens, no matter their circumstance, and to close any gaps making it inequitable.

Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, we have all benefited from these programs. There are those who want to dismantle them, but have they thought of the consequences?

For example, slashing Social Security would be an absolute disaster for 81 million retirees and people with disabilities. Grandma and Grandpa who don’t have retirement savings are now destined to poverty. Even a small cut could be the difference between scraping by to being dependent on handouts. It wouldn’t just be the low income and poor people; it would be many people in the middle class who have not prepared for retirement and would have no income at all. Diminishing Medicare would be equally catastrophic.

But hold on, there’s more. Education would take a huge hit. The voucher program implemented by the Republicans and Gov. Kim Reynolds could be the beginning of the end for public schools in Iowa. This program takes $7,826 from public education for each student moving to a private school. There are 43,175 kids in private schools in Iowa. I am not a math whiz, but even I can see public schools will be decimated and create two classes of people, the moneyed and the poor. That big of a loss would convince most teachers Iowa is not public school friendly. Iowa already has 1,090 public school teaching positions open.

This administration and legislature have underfunded schools significantly. Since Reynolds has been governor, funding has fallen $2.1 billion based on inflation and in 2023-24 alone that is $440.3 million according to a study by Sen. Herman Quirmbach, Ph.D.

Katie Hobbs, the governor of Arizona, told law makers, the voucher program “lacks accountability and will likely bankrupt the state … It does not save taxpayers money, and it does not provide a better education for Arizona students.”

Private schools are very excited about this untested program, as evidenced by Xavier Schools announcing plans to convert the Toyota Financial Services Building in Cedar Rapids into a middle school. That building has 109,000 square feet with 11 acres of green space. It looks like they are anticipating a large number of new students.

There is no public outcry for the voucher system, nor was there much input from parents, teachers or administrators. It is a way for Republicans to respond to their donors and to implement their political views on history and what should and shouldn’t be taught rather than telling the truth, no matter how it makes white people look. Without the truth we are going to make the same mistakes.

To put a voucher program into Iowa law is criminal. But worse is dividing kids into rich and poor before taking opportunity away from the poor. Are Republicans hoping to generate undereducated kids that can be manipulated when they are voting age?

John Lehnst lives in Williamsburg.