Vouchers Toolkit

TAKE ACTION

Click the button to quickly write your legislators with our Every Action tool

Click Here for Every Action

Legislator Contact Information

Tips and Reminders:

• Please be respectful in your communication.
• Use a personal email address (not your work email).
• Explain where you live, remind them you are a constituent.
• Get personal, share why this legislation affects you and your students.

TALKING POINTS TO USE WITH LEGISLATORS

Public dollars need to go to public education. Unlike private schools, public schools are required to admit and serve all students. This legislation would divert taxpayer dollars to non-public schools, which are not required to adhere to this principle of equity.

Available resources should go to support the most students. The 2023 voucher proposal would cost more than $100 million the first year, leaving out large portions of our student population. At a time when our public schools are facing unprecedented challenges, available resources should go to support the more than 485,000 public school students in all 99 counties.

Taxpayer dollars should require accountability and transparency. Non-public schools are not held to the same standard as public schools. The absence of public accountability for taxpayer dollars could contribute to waste and fraud of tax-payer dollars.

ADDITIONAL TALKING POINTS

• Vouchers don’t offer parents a real choice. Private schools pick and choose who they accept. Public schools accept ALL students.
  Almost 75% of public schools are in rural areas with little to no access to private schools. Most families will be excluded from participating in a voucher program.
• Rural Iowans without a private school option will pay for urban students to go to private school.
• Locally elected citizen volunteers oversee our public schools and represent the community’s voice. Private schools are governed by self-appointed boards of trustees with no public oversight over how public money would be spent.
• Vouchers pull critical resources from public schools, which educate 90% of students and put money into private schools which can pick and choose who they want to admit.
• Public schools are accountable and transparent to the parents and community they serve. Private schools do not have the same state mandated requirements for accountability and transparency.
• Students in public schools are achieving more than ever with competitive course offerings, earning college credits, and gaining valuable work experience and technical training . Iowa is home to some of the best public schools in the country.

Download our one-pager here

RESOURCES

This map shows where private schools are located in Iowa and which legislative district they are in. Show your legislators that rural students will not benefit from a private school voucher program and in most of the state, public schools are their best and only choice.*Map provided by IASB

Download Map

The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency outlined Iowa’s current public investment in private and home school education in this document.

Download Funding Overview

TAKE ACTION WITH YOUR SCHOOL BOARD

Ask your local school board members to pass a resolution that vouchers are wrong for Iowa.

Download Sample Resolution

*Resolution Provided by IASB

SOCIAL MEDIA GRAPHICS

Download and share social media graphics opposing vouchers. Help spread awareness that vouchers, by any name, are wrong for Iowa.

Tell your legislators to vote NO on private school vouchers in Iowa Download

Public Dollars for Public Schools Download

Taxpayer dollars should require accountability and transparency Download