Iowa’s private schools saw an enrollment increase last fall of several thousand students under a new state law that allows families to use taxpayer funds to pay for nonpublic education.
The Oct. 1, 2023, statewide student count showed private school enrollment rose just over 7% from the previous year for a 2023-24 school year count of 36,195 students, according to numbers released by the Iowa Department of Education Friday.
Of those students, 16,757 used the state’s recently created education savings accounts to pay for their school expenses, the department’s news release states. The state had approved almost 19,000 students to access the funds ahead for the current 2023-24 school year.
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed education savings accounts into law during the 2023 legislative session. The accounts allow Iowa families to apply for about $7,600 per student for private school expenses including tuition and fees.
The accounts use funds that otherwise would have followed the student to the public school district he or she attended.