If you send your child to the public school down the street, the district receives about $6,000 in state per-pupil education money. If you open enroll your child into another district, the money goes there. If you home school your child but rely on a local school for some services, the school receives about $2,000 in per-pupil money.
For years these options have provided families flexibility while keeping public money in Iowa’s public schools.
Now parents are being told there is another option for “free” education. Keep your children home all day, but you won’t be the teacher. All instruction will be provided online. Parents won’t have to be in the same room with students.
And the tax money will end up in the pockets of out-of-state, for-profit companies.
That is not what Iowa lawmakers ever intended in state-funded education. It appears to be a misuse of Iowa laws. Yet two companies offering exactly this are actively tareting Iowa students and want the public money that comes with them.
Connections Academy has partnered with the CAM Community School District (Cumberland, Anita, Massena). K12 Inc. has paired with Clayton Ridge Community Scchool District (Guttenberg). The companies are using Iowa’s open enrollment law to sign up students from across the state. Those who enroll can live hundreds of miles away, but that doesn’t matter because the companies’ teachers will instruct them entirely online.
For the rest of the article, go to These online schools are a worrisome public money grab
