As the bill that would expand school choice advances through the Iowa Legislature, many Iowans may be asking themselves: What are charter schools?
The bill, Senate File 159, expands school choice by awarding taxpayer-funded scholarships to students in 34 failing public schools identified by the federal government so the students can attend a public charter school. When they leave the public school, they take their per-student state aid which would be over $7,000 this year to the charter school.
The bill was approved by the Iowa Senate on Jan. 28 and is now awaiting debate in the Iowa House.
In Iowa, charter schools are public, non-religious schools that are created by a governing board or a sponsoring school board. Money that flows into public schools has strings attached. Charter schools, however, have more flexibility with how they spend it.
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