A bill in the Iowa Senate is aimed at creating an education savings account for K-12 students.

District 24 Senator Jerry Behn says when he was first elected to the Senate in 1996, he was told the most important factor to determine how well a child does in school is parental involvement. With Senate File 2091, Behn says education savings accounts would allow parents to take the funds and use it to send their child to whatever school they want. He points out the benefits of utilizing that type of system.

“All of the research has shown that when the parents are involved not only does the child do better, but the satisfaction with the schools goes up and then the competition between the schools works to everybody’s favor too.”

Behn notes that education savings accounts will effectively take the place of per pupil funding that school districts currently receive from the state’s budget. He believes it would also change how open enrollment currently works.

“This is kind of a way to help improve that situation as well, where all the children can help decide. It won’t just be a function where their zip code is and how much money they have.”

Behn says the bill has to go through a sub-committee and then onto a full committee, before it can be debated on the Senate floor.