As more work continues to flesh out the rules and regulations associated with the newly signed into law “Students First Act” some answers are starting to become clear.

House District 47 Representative Carter Nordman tells Raccoon Valley Radio this new law allows parents to use the per pupil funding of $7,600 for their child to go to a private school. He clears up an apparent myth that these funds are going to be deposited into the parent’s checking account, which Nordman says is not true. He points out that instead these accounts will be administered by a third party vendor and overseen by either the Department of Education or the Department of Management. Nordman talks about what happens if there are leftover funds once a student graduates or discontinues attending private school.

“Now if the student graduates after four years or however many years that they are in a private school and there is money left in that account, the money does not go to the parents, it would revert back to the Iowa general fund for the state.”   

Greene County School District Superintendent Brett Abbotts describes his concerns with this law overall.

“The impact does concern me in terms of loss of enrollment and just loss of students that we get to educate that’s really what I’m the most worried about. I’m a big, big firm believer that we should have public dollars for public education. I think this is a bit of a blow to public education across the state of Iowa.”  

The Education Savings Accounts will begin next school year and are for household incomes of $85,000 or less and all kindergarteners can apply.