Bush rips Reynolds on school vouchersLegislator in three-way GOP debate says he’s the only one standing up for public schools

A Republican statehouse forum in Gaza hit a rare adversarial tone on Tuesday when Rep. Dennis Bush, R-Cleghorn, criticized Gov. Kim Reynolds for making the upcoming elections a referendum on her school voucher bill. 

Bush told a crowd of around 50 at an empty seed warehouse in Gaza that he was the only member of the Republican House that’s “standing for the public schools.” And the governor apparently has a problem with his stance, he said.

“I might as well come out and say it: but the governor’s trying to use this election as a referendum for her voucher plan. And I’m the only candidate that’s running for the House of Representatives that’s standing for the public schools,” said Bush, veering his answer from a moderator question about transparency of school reading materials. 

“This bill is not about an election — it's most certainly about our children,” Reynolds said in a statement provided to the Storm Lake Times Pilot. “Most of the schools in Iowa are doing a good job, but there are some schools that are not meeting the needs of families. If education truly is the great equalizer, we should create opportunities for more families to provide their children with the education choice that’s best for them. Iowans want and deserve school choice and educational freedom for their children. Our children's educational opportunities shouldn't be limited to incomes or zip codes.”

The governor has not endorsed Bush or his opponents — Tom Kuiper of Sibley and Zach Dieken of Granville — in District 5. But Americans for Prosperity has endorsed Dieken, an Iowa State Trooper and part-time substitute teacher in the MMCRU and Sheldon school districts. The house district covers Cherokee, O’Brien and Osceola counties, and the western third of Buena Vista. 

Pat Garrett, a spokesman for Gov. Reynolds, said the governor’s campaign hasn't provided an endorsement. He noted AFP’s endorsement has no bearing on Reynolds’ view of the race, which is neutral. 

School vouchers were one of the rare points of contention in the three-hour forum at the Gaza seed warehouse, involving the house primary candidates and Senate District 3 Republicans Lynn Evans of Aurelia and Anthony LaBruna of Sanborn. The candidates were unified in their opposition to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources owning more public land, abortion protections and legalized recreational marijuana. 

Bush said he couldn’t in good conscience support school vouchers. He said the state couldn’t afford doling out $25 million a year to private schools — a proposal that’s said to be under consideration by the Legislature. The Legislature should instead prioritize a 3% growth rate for public schools, which educate the vast majority of students in Iowa, Bush said.

“The proposal that’s been floating around now, it’s gonna be $25 million to pay for 10,000 kids to receive education savings accounts for vouchers to go to the private school. And with the tax cut we just got done passing, there isn’t $25 million to be drained away, hurting our public education,” Bush continued.

The problem with settling on state supplemental aid lower than 3%, Bush explained, is that school districts are settling to that amount or higher. A number of school superintendents in the district told him they needed to settle at 3% to avoid an arbitration battle.

“We were told by numerous superintendents they needed 3% because if their staff went to arbitration, it’d be a guaranteed 3%,” Bush said. “And the governor wanted two and a half, the senate wanted two and a half, and there was a group of us that said two and a half wasn’t enough. We finally agreed to two and a half and we couldn’t make up the difference.”

Dieken and Kuiper were quick to contrast themselves with Bush. 

“I appreciate Dennis’s courage in expressing his views. I’ll say I’m full-blown school choice,” he said. 

Dieken described public education as a failed enterprise devoid of needed competition. He dismissed Bush’s claim that open enrollment was an alternative for parents who weren’t satisfied with their children’s school. 

“To tell me as a parent that I can take my child out of one school that teaches a secular humanistic worldview, and enroll into another school that teaches the same worldview makes no difference to me. Beyond the tax dollar it goes to the worldview that’s being pushed on our children right now,” said Dieken, who plans to homeschool his children when they’re of age. “But the point is I don’t think parents should be pigeonholed into one option. And if I’m going to homeschool my children, which to be honest to everyone in this room, I plan to do, then the money the government took from me, I should be able to use for my own child’s education.”

Kuiper said the hegemony of public education should end. He took issue with public entities “throwing money” year after year to education with little results in student achievement. He also took issue with what he sees as “woke” culture infecting the public school system. 

“What’s the definition of insanity?” said Kuiper, referencing a mini-book by the reputed University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman that Dieken brought with him on-stage. “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result… If the public schools are continuing to go woke, the money should follow the children.”

Evans and LaBruna, the Senate candidates, also endorsed school vouchers but went short of criticizing public education as beyond repair. 

Evans said the public schools in Northwest Iowa are “some of the best in the state, bar none.” A former superintendent of Alta-Aurelia and Hartley-Melvin Sanborn for nearly a decade each, Evans took issue with the house candidates saying the system was boken. 

“To say it’s a fully broken system, I don’t necessarily agree with that, but we do have to do a lot of work. To say that we can give ESA, scholarship programs to parents and use those in private schools, I’m okay with that to be honest with you. But on a limited basis you’re talking 2% of the total student population in the state,” said Evans, who was mum on school vouchers until recently. All of his former superintendent colleagues in Buena Vista County publicly opposed school vouchers. “…But I don’t think that’s the fix. Competition is good. If you want to rise up. If you want to compete, just like in business, competition is a good thing. But we need to continue to put resources toward our public school system. It can’t be an either or thing.”

LaBruna said school vouchers becoming prevalent could be a good thing for Northwest Iowa schools. A recent visit to Hull Western Christian, a private school in Hull, showed the American flag wasn’t displayed and the pledge of allegiance wasn’t said before the school day.

Correction: A previous version of this story reported the governor's office wouldn't make an endorsement. Pat Garrett, a spokesman for the governor's campaign, said an endorsement decision hasn't been made yet.