~by GreeneCountyNewsOnline publisher Victoria Riley
The Iowa Senate Committee on Education and the Iowa House Education Reform Committee on Wednesday passed SF1 and HF1, what the Republicans are calling the Students First Act, out of committee and on to their respective chambers.
Gov Kim Reynolds, always the sore winner, said, “This is just the first step in giving educational freedom to Iowa’s students and parents. For too long government has told parents when, how, and where their kids can receive an education. It’s time for the government to get out of the way and allow parents the freedom of choice in education.
“It is not shocking to see the same special interest groups who tried to lock our students out of their classrooms advocating against this bill. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.”
When the trial balloon of using public funds to pay for faith-based schools was launched I barely paid attention. I learned in school that the separation of church and state is a foundation of our country. “Surely, people will know that state money can’t go to parochial schools,” I thought.
Well, I guess I was wrong then, just like Horace Mann was wrong in the 1830s when he started the Common Schools Movement with a statewide curriculum and the use of local property tax to fund public education. His Common School Journal espoused education paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public; that education is best provided in schools that embrace children from a variety of backgrounds; that education must by non-sectarian; and that it should be provided by well-trained, professional teachers.
Supporters of the Students First Act refer to “public” and “private” schools. In Iowa, of the 240 non-public schools, only a handful are not faith-based. They’re Catholic or Christian (with the distinction in their names, although we Catholics consider ourselves to be Christians), with a few Quaker schools and a Maharishi school where transcendental meditation is part of the curriculum.
So, when Republicans talk about funding private schools, they’re saying they want to use state funds for religious training. These faith-based schools have Mass if they’re Catholic, religion classes, Bible studies, and instruction/indoctrination in the faith.
I’m not opposed to faith-based schools. If parents want to send their children to faith-based schools, they should have that option. Generations of parents have made the choice to spend their own money for that type of schooling for their children. Let them! My parents did.
But, I don’t see any circumstance in which some parents’ choice to send their children to faith-based schools should erode the separation of church and state on which Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and others built our country.
Gov Reynolds says that some students’ needs are better met in private/faith-based schools. I agree that public schools don’t meet the needs of every single student, but the solution isn’t to implement a scheme that cuts funding to the public schools attended by 90 percent of Iowa students.
The solution is to increase funding to public schools to ensure they have the trained staff, the flexibility in class size, and access to specialized educational and mental health services they need to meet those students’ needs.
If the Republicans are determined to spend more money on education to provide more choices for Iowans, I’d suggest they fully fund community colleges so Iowans can choose which one to attend rather than choosing whether or not to pursue more education after high school.
I would much prefer that use of money to opening the door to further public funding of religious efforts.
