Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law on Tuesday a school voucher bill which will use taxpayer money to fund private school scholarships. 

The Students First Act passed with a vote of 31 to 18 in the Iowa Senate and it passed the House by a vote of 54 to 45. The bill would create education savings accounts using money from the state budget for students who attend a private school. Senator Sarah Trone-Garriott voted against this piece of legislation and says that this bill will have a negative impact on public school class sizes, program availability, while also weakening rural schools, along with public schools budget and taxpayers. 

“Meanwhile, Iowa lags behind the national average of funding per student by $1,300. So this program is going to cost more. We don’t have an actual fiscal node on it yet. We only have what the governor’s reporting. But it’s over four years. It’s going to cost nearly a billion extra dollars to our budget.”

She states that the Students First Act will cost taxpayers an extra $200 per year to largely benefit students already attending private institutions. Governor Kim Reynolds released a statement saying that this piece of legislation will fund students instead of systems and parents can now choose the best education suitable for their children.