The Games Politicians Play
Hint: They're Not Child-Friendly, or Kid-Safe
Turning the calendar to August triggers my circadian clock: time to shop for school backpacks, supplies, and new shoes. I enjoy browsing the array of backpacks on display, and get a rush from the scent of new school supplies. It's a guilty pleasure, since I realize this isn't how many parents react.
Costs accelerate each year. You still can buy backpacks for $17 - $20. But it's common to see price tags ranging from $24 - $50. So, for the past decade, I've been involved in organizing a Back-to-School Backpack Bash in our local community. The event is funded by a local charitable trust created by our dear farm neighbors, Paul and Grace. They had no children, but cared deeply about improving the lives of children in Boone County. Our 4-H club and church partner with the City Council to make it happen.
The challenge is to stretch our grant funds to buy good quality, but affordable, backpacks. Another challenge is reach out to families who may hesitate to accept help. The 4-Hers organize games and prizes, and the goal is for the kids to complete all the games to "win" a backpack filled with school supplies.
But as we plan for this event, and the advent of a new school year, it strikes me that over the past decade, the state of Iowa also been playing games with children, and their families. But its game plan is more cynical: Scoring political points. Children simply are game pawns.
Hide and Go Seek
The most recent example emerged this past week in a report by Iowa Auditor Rob Sand. It's a game of Hide and Go Seek. Two years ago, when Governor Reynolds strong-armed spineless legislators into passing Education Savings Accounts for private school students, they knew this legislation wouldn't help rural K-12 public school students. After all, 42 of Iowa's counties don't have any private schools. The ESA cost per student for the 2024-5 school year is $7,826. Beginning in 2025-26, any Iowa family will be eligible for an ESA, regardless of financial need.
The state's initial contract with Odyssey, the New York-based company administering the give-away of public funds, was pegged at $682,333.75 for the first year. Sand has uncovered that the Governor agreed to pay an additional $267,250 in fiscal 2024, three months after the initial contract was issued. The amount Iowans will pay to fund a program that the majority of Iowans did not ask for or want will more than double by fiscal year 2027, Sand estimates. The Governor never made this amended contract public, and stonewalled his request for this information for six months.
The Governor, in a written response to Sand's report, explained that Odyssey's contract still would be less than half the cost of its closest competitor's bid. Well, big whop! It's a hard sell to tout the bargain price tag of a program opposed by 62% of Iowans! Costs already had ballooned in its first year after more families applied for free money than anticipated: $23 million more. Go figure!
None of the children taking backpacks home from our event are enrolling in private schools. Boone County has two private elementary schools, but it's not clear that they could accommodate, or possibly even would accept, low-income students who also may have some learning challenges.
This brings us to another game that caught Iowans by surprise this year: Flashlight Tag. No wonder the Governor worked so hard to overhaul and cut funding to Iowa's nine Area Education Agencies. Sure, it enables private companies to get a slice of the educational pie, but the funds also would help bridge the gap in Odyssey's amended contract. At least 500 AEA employees this year have retired, resigned, or made a decision to retire, after the Governor signed this legislation.
Rural Iowa will be particularly hard hit, since its schools are less able to afford and access services for its high-need students. Many of the children at our backpack event need AEA services, including Individual Education Plans, special education, and speech therapy. Their classroom teachers also need AEA support. These kids are most likely to be on the losing end when this game plays out.
Children Pick up the Slack
Another game, Tug of War, is going on now. The Governor and legislators loosened child labor laws this year to give businesses greater leverage. They knew that Iowa's child labor laws would directly contradict stricter Federal child labor laws. Now it's leaving both Iowa teenagers and small businesses at the end of their rope, since large fines levied by Federal regulators threaten the financial solvency of these small businesses.
The Governor also signed a law allowing younger teens a special permit to drive to work. Iowa's Tug of War with the Federal government exploits teens whose families are struggling. A month or two ago, I was buying groceries when the cashier at another checkout called my name. I recognized the teenage cashier as a girl who was "shopping" for a backpack at our event only a year or so ago. When I asked if she was playing softball again this summer, she shook her head, and said she had to work. "I might graduate high school early," she said. When I told her to enjoy high school for as long as she can, she replied that she needed to earn money to help her mom move out [from their two-parent home]. Maybe Iowa should help parents like hers by raising the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour, so that children like her can enjoy their childhood?
The Hunger Games
This year Governor Reynolds refused to accept $29 million in Federal money for a summer food program (EBT). Instead, she substituted a $900,000 state-run and funded grant program to schools and other organizations. She cited the administrative costs of the Federal funds, and justified trading off food insecurity for kids with an alleged concern about childhood obesity. This Hunger Game has consequences for the most vulnerable Iowans: our children. And Iowans have been forced to fall in line with it.
Tag You're It
The state of Iowa also has been playing a shamefully cruel game stigmatizing children who don't fit the mold when it comes to gender or sexual orientation. Laws have been passed to prohibit LGBTQ instruction in grades K-6th grade, requiring teachers to tell parents if their child prefers a different name, or pronoun, and restricting bathroom use. Books that might ease their sense of isolation or affirm their worth as human beings have been removed from school shelves. Iowa legislation also has banned gender affirming care. I personally know a family who moved from their rural Iowa hometown to a neighboring state so that their child could access this care.
Kick the Can as Educational Levels Decline
Last, but not least, a new Kids Count Report last month by the Annie E. Casey Foundation revealed that 2/3 of Iowa fourth graders failed to read proficiently, and high school graduation rates are declining (Iowa is now #3 in graduation rates). Overall, Iowa ranks #29 in public education funding. Chronic absenteeism is rising.
You could call this game, Kick the Can, if you think that legislators ever intend to address the chronic underfunding of Iowa's public schools and students. But maybe you believe the object of this game is to run down public education so much that parents turn to private companies as an alternative. This would achieve the goal of privatizing education as much as possible, allowing businesses to profit from our educational dollars.
School of Hard Knocks
We won't be playing Tag, You're It, Tug of War, or Keep Away at our Back-to-School Backpack Bash. All those games have obvious winners and losers. No child who participates will go home empty-handed – even if they don't play every game, or forget to punch their game card.
Here in Iowa, we're taught to follow laws equipping our cars with child car seats, tucking our children into bed in flame-resistant pajamas, and buying products with child-proof caps that challenge the grip of our arthritic wrists.
Yet the School of Hard Knocks game that Iowa legislators and Governor Reynolds play is limiting the educational achievements of the next generation of students, and threatening real-life collateral damage to them and their families.
Excellent commentary. Big whoop indeed, Governor Reynolds! Kudos to Rob Sand for exposing her back-handed work. And the Republican who wants to be VP claims Democrats are anti-children!
Good analysis, once again, Cheryl!
Sigh.