Thread by @CovingtonEDU

Tomorrow evening is a public hearing in the Iowa legislature for HSB1, a bill broadly restructuring education funding in Iowa & establishing ESAs to pay for private schools. Here are the public comments I hope to make opposing the bill. A 🧵:

My name is Nick Covington. I taught high school social studies for 10 years, and I am the parent of 2 children in public school.

As a teacher, I saw first-hand that most Iowans, including teachers and parents, want the same thing: strong, quality public schools that give every student the freedom to reach their full potential. Where all students deserve the freedom to learn and succeed.

And as recently as 2020, Governor Reynolds boasted about Iowa public schools, saying: “We have strong local control, rooted in communities and parents who care deeply about educating their children..."

"... We have the highest high-school graduation rate in the country and more high schoolers taking college courses than any other state.“

Now, in the flurry of unpopular bills targeting education this session, one thing is clear, the legislature fully intends to create a 2-tier system of Iowa schools:

One a micromanaged public system where the “strong local control” once praised by Gov Reynolds is undermined, and another that receives public money but is NOT accountable to public oversight.

I’ll share just one example of the waste, fraud, & abuse this legislation will invite into our state education system:

Last year in Oklahoma, the co-founders of Epic Charter Schools were charged with felony racketeering and embezzlement related to operating their virtual charter school system.

They cost taxpayers at least 22 million dollars by engineering a ‘complicated criminal enterprise’ through their management of charter schools, spending public dollars on their personal credit cards and diverting money toward political contributions.

The Oklahoma State Auditor called it “the largest abuse of taxpayer funds in the history of the state.”

To predatory would-be fraudsters who view the Treasury as their personal slush fund, Governor Reynolds says, Iowa is open for business.

Iowans deserve better, and we have better, than an education system cluttered with waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer money in the guise of “Providing Educational Choice.”

If we have enough money to fund a two-tier education system, we should invest it into improving accessibility and equity, and expanding school programming to guarantee the right of every Iowa child to a free, appropriate, and excellent public education.

Thank you.

There is still time to sign up and attend. Or if you are unable, you can register your public comments here as well:
legis.iowa.gov/committees/pub…

#ialegis #iaedfuture #K12 #edchat