The Iowa House recently passed a bill to allow for the creation of public charter schools in the state.

House District 20 Representative Ray Sorensen tells Raccoon Valley Radio charter schools must show a need and support within a community, apply for establishment through the Iowa Department of Education, submit to the same requirements as k-12 public schools, and have an established founding board, which Sorensen notes can’t come from out of state. Sorensen addresses another issue about funding potentially being diverted away from an existing public school.

“In fact, the federal dollars that are being allocated to the public school district will not be affected. Even after a student leaves the district for the charter school, the public school will receive additional funds for students they don’t even have in their classroom. So it’ll actually result in the school having more dollars per student in the classroom if that child were to leave for the charter.”   

Sorensen points out the opposition doesn’t like that charter schools don’t have to be approved by an existing school board to be created. He equates it to the business world and how competing companies don’t need consent to start their business. Another point of contention is the declining enrollment that some school districts have already seen and Sorensen says if there is a struggling school district, a charter school might be able to help.

“There’s that kind of old adage where sometimes competition breeds business. It creates a finer tuned machine. What I mean by that is a better use and a more creative use of the tax dollars that are going out there. Instead of just continuing to funnel tax dollars into a school that is struggling.”

Sorensen believes that charter schools offer another choice for parents and students to utilize if they want. The bill is now in the Senate for consideration. Click the link below to see the full bill. 

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=89&ba=hf756