With the new school year to start up later this month, the Iowa Department of Education recently released the number of approved applications for one of the state’s newest laws.

According to the Department of Education, 18,627 applications were approved for the Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), and there are some in Dallas, Greene and Guthrie counties. In Dallas County, there are 505 ESAs, Greene County has nine and Guthrie County reports three ESAs. 

The Department of Education says if parents or guardians of an approved ESA for their child has been accepted at an accredited non-public school will receive an invoice from that institution through their ESA account. ESAs will remain in the state’s possession until payment has been approved to the school. However, if the student who has an ESA does not attend the accredited non-public school by September 30th, the ESA account will be closed for the school year and those funds will be returned to the state’s general fund. 

The report notes that 96 of Iowa’s 99 counties have at least one approved ESA account with the largest number being Polk County with 3,144 and Emmet County with the fewest at one ESA account.