Iowa mom says school vouchers don’t offset tuition increases

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Iowa Capitol Bureau) - It’s a picture perfect image of what Republican lawmakers say the school voucher program is designed to do. Amanda Vavra’s 9-year-old daughter struggles with dyslexia and dysgraphia. After falling behind in public school, Vavra found a private school that can teach in a certain style her pediatrician recommends for students with dyslexia.

Vavra enrolled her daughter Alex in Summit Schools in Cedar Rapids and so far she’s loving it. “Every day she comes home and she has a new best friend. Cracks me up,” Vavra said.

Vavra says since being at Summit, her daughter is no longer falling behind. She also gets additional help from a tutor, which is expensive. “Right now, like, our tutoring is about $6,000 annually,” Vavra said.

When the school voucher bill, or Students First Act, passed Vavra says she thought her daughter would finally get the help she needs. “I kind of felt like okay we have some hope for her because we can do the tutoring, we can pay for the tutoring ourselves, and then with the ESA we can also afford to send her to Summit,” Vavra said.

For the 2023-2024 school year, tuition before vouchers or any other discounts at Summit is $8,090. In the 2024-2025 school year, the cost will be $14,350. The state allocates $7,598 per student in the ESA voucher program.

Currently, Vavra pays $492 for tuition after the voucher kicks in. Next year, she’ll have to pay $6,715 after it kicks in. “She still needs tutoring and so it is a question of how now are we going to afford both of these things? I don’t want to pull her out of this school,” Vavra said.

Vavra says she’ll have to make some tough choices to afford both due to the increase in tuition and the cost of the tutor. “I’m thinking maybe I could take some money out of our retirement account to do both. That’s the only thing that I have come up with,” Vavra said.

There are no caps on tuition increases in the law. State Auditor Rob Sand says he has additional concerns about a lack of oversight. “That there are going to be no requirement for audit, no requirement for public records, no requirement for public meetings and just no transparency as to how that money is actually getting used,” Sand said.

Governor Kim Reynolds was asked on ‘Iowa Press’ in May if private schools raising tuition defeats the point of the program. “Yeah, I don’t think it does. I mean, all schools are experiencing increased cost. We had our public schools talk about it too and that’s why every year we look at a state supplemental aid payment because we recognize that there are increased costs. We’ll monitor it but they’ll be able to use their foundation, the tuition tax credits as well as the ESA.”

In a statement Wednesday, the Governor’s office said, “Private schools set their own tuition and operating budgets, and many will make those determinations based on increasing teacher salaries and expanding their capacity. In many cases, private school educators make less than public school educators.”

In a statement, Summit says they raised tuition costs due to increased costs as well as to raise teacher salaries and eliminating fundraising.

“There were many factors that went into Summit’s Board of Trustees raising tuition including significantly increased operation costs, removing fundraising from our operating budget, and raising our teacher salaries to stay competitive in our local market. Summit is a nonprofit and independent school, and it costs $14,500 to educate a student at Summit, so this tuition increase moves us closer in line with that true cost. Summit drastically lowered tuition by 25% in 2020 due to the pandemic in an effort to help families and to remain open during those uncertain times. Past tuition has only contributed approximately 60% of Summit’s operating budget and that is simply not sustainable for our doors to remain open,” a spokesperson for the school said.

The school says it has tuition assistance for families who need it whether they have a voucher or not.