Des Moines Public Schools have lost almost $47.5 million in state funding since Iowa’s private school voucher program was implemented before the 2023-24 school year, according to state data.
“Wow. I didn’t know the exact number on that,” said Iowa House Minority Leader Brian Meyer, a Democrat who represents Des Moines, when Starting Line shared its findings with him. “I assumed it would be the highest in the state, obviously, but that’s a little disconcerting.”
Des Moines Public Schools’ financial woes are replicable across Iowa as the state’s taxpayer-funded private school voucher program—called Students First Education Savings Accounts—nears the end of its third year.
The new law allowed parents and guardians to take state cost per pupil (SCPP) funds, which vary each year based on budget adjustments, that would have gone to the public school district they reside in and instead use those funds on private school tuition for their kids.
As an olive branch to public school districts, the voucher law also loosened restrictions on how districts could use early intervention, professional development, teacher leadership, and teacher salary supplement funds—collectively known as “categoricals”—from the state. Lawmakers hoped this change could offset public schools’ annual losses caused by taxpayer-funded private school scholarships.
Without the categorical reimbursements, Des Moines Public Schools would have lost closer to $53 million. This figure is derived by multiplying the number of resident students in the district who use a voucher by that year’s SCPP, and then adding those sums.
Taxpayers funding private schools for the wealthy
During its first two years of existence, Iowa’s voucher program had income restrictions for participation. In year one, 1,381 students living in the Des Moines Public school district participated, resulting in a net loss of roughly $8.9 million in state funding. In year two, participation grew to 2,242 students in the same district, at a loss of $14.7 million in state funds.
Heading into the 2025-26 school year, the program opened to all Iowa families regardless of income—and 3,121 students living in the Des Moines Public school district participated, resulting in a loss of nearly $21 million in state funds.
So who’s the program helping? Analyses show that students who were already attending private school prior to qualifying for the program are the ones taking advantage of the program. In other words, their families were already planning to pay for private school tuition before being eligible for a voucher.
In year one, about 66% of voucher students had already been enrolled in private schools. In year two, about 81% of voucher students were already private school students when they joined the program. And in year three, when income limits were removed, state Rep. Elinor Levin noted that 99% of private school students had their tuition subsidized by the state.
Beyond vouchers, private schools are being given additional public resources
This is a collective loss of $47,494,343 in state funds for Des Moines Public Schools. Without the categorical reimbursement, the district would have lost $53,227,349 due to resident students using vouchers.
While the categorical funding provides some relief, it’s not enough to sustain public schools, said Melissa Petereson, the legislative and policy director for the Iowa State Education Association, Iowa’s largest teachers union.
Peterson noted that Republican lawmakers continue to tinker with expanding provisions of the voucher program at the expense of public systems. One new law forces public schools to allow private school students full access to public school extracurricular activities if their private school doesn’t offer those activities.
“At some point—and I think we’ve already crossed this threshold—those resources are not enough to sustain the quality resources we have at our public schools,” Peterson said. “That’s where we can make a clear argument that vouchers are coming at the expense of our public school students.”
Champions of the voucher program argue that taxpayer funding should follow the student rather than the district where they live, and that public schools should welcome the competition.
“Choice does not weaken our commitment to public education,” said Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds during her 2026 condition of the state address. “It strengthens it—by making every school focus on what matters most: the students in front of them.”
However, critics argue that if private schools take public dollars, they should adhere to the same rules as public schools, including accepting all students.
Private schools are allowed to pick and choose which students to accept, giving them the option to reject students with disabilities or who are members of the LGBTQ+ community, as most of Iowa’s private schools are religiously affiliated.
Accountability is lacking for private schools taking vouchers
US Rep. Randy Feenstra, who represents Iowa’s 4th Congressional District and is running in the Republican primary for governor, supports Iowa’s voucher program, but agrees private schools that take public dollars should accept all students, according to the Des Moines Register. Feenstra’s hometown, Hull, Iowa, has two private, Christian high schools and one public high school.
Another critique of Iowa’s voucher program is the lack of financial transparency.
Rob Sand, Iowa’s sitting state auditor and the Democratic frontrunner in the governor’s race, has campaigned on making private schools that receive public dollars undergo the same financial scrutiny as public schools, a point Brian Meyer seconds.
“At least let us know where this public money is going and make sure that it is being spent in the way that it said it is going to be spent,” Meyer said. “When you don’t have the audit ability, you don’t have any kind of income cap; it’s just unfortunate that Republicans feel like we can’t have any accountability on this.”
TROUGH
Hed: Iowa’s voucher program has cost Des Moines Public Schools millions of dollars
In the first year of the voucher program, 1,381 Des Moines Public Schools resident students, at an SCPP rate of $7,668 per student, used vouchers, which resulted in a net loss of $8,882,592 in state funding after including $1.7 million in categorical reimbursement.
As financial restrictions loosened in year two, Des Moines Public Schools lost more students and state funds to private schools. In the 2024-25 school year, Des Moines Public Schools saw 2,242 resident students use vouchers, at a SCPP rate of $7,859 per student, resulting in a loss of $14.7 million in state funds. The district received $2.8 million in categorical reimbursement.
By the time the program was fully implemented in the 2025-26 school year, 3,121 Des Moines Public Schools resident students utilized vouchers, at an SCPP rate of $8,016 per student, resulting in a loss of nearly $21 million in state funds after about $4 million in categorical reimbursement.
