Gov. Kim Reynolds, during a visit Tuesday to Alburnett schools, said school districts losing students because of a recent law on school choice have the responsibility to make families choose to stay in the district — rather than asking the state government to help address the decline.
“It’s not necessarily what I’m going to do to solve it. They have a responsibility as a school district, as a school board, as parents, to look internally and ask themselves that tough question, ‘What do we maybe need to do differently that would keep our parents here and the kids in the school district?’” Reynolds said.
The Cedar Rapids Community School District saw a decline of over 300 students in the 2024-2025 school year, the second year after the Iowa Legislature in early 2023 passed Reynolds’ school choice proposal, which allowed students to enroll in private schools using public money for tuition through an education savings account.
Alburnett was one of multiple school districts Reynolds is visiting this week as part of national school choice week. She said she was impressed with the district’s various programs, including co-teaching systems and a Junior Achievement program called 3DE, which focuses on helping students do work-based learning before they graduate.
“What makes this really unique here, and it really is another testament to the school district, is this is the first rural school district that's participated in that. A lot of times this is only something that's available in our larger school districts,” Reynolds said
“And so, the fact that they figured out a way to bring this opportunity to their students, to a rural school district, it’s incredible, and so I'm really looking forward to following back up with them and understanding how we can possibly help scale this and give other school districts the opportunity to participate,” she said.
Along with Alburnett High School, Cedar Rapids Prairie High School in the College Community School District were the first schools in Iowa to pilot the 3DE program.
www.thegazette.com
“It’s not necessarily what I’m going to do to solve it. They have a responsibility as a school district, as a school board, as parents, to look internally and ask themselves that tough question, ‘What do we maybe need to do differently that would keep our parents here and the kids in the school district?’” Reynolds said.
The Cedar Rapids Community School District saw a decline of over 300 students in the 2024-2025 school year, the second year after the Iowa Legislature in early 2023 passed Reynolds’ school choice proposal, which allowed students to enroll in private schools using public money for tuition through an education savings account.
Alburnett was one of multiple school districts Reynolds is visiting this week as part of national school choice week. She said she was impressed with the district’s various programs, including co-teaching systems and a Junior Achievement program called 3DE, which focuses on helping students do work-based learning before they graduate.
“What makes this really unique here, and it really is another testament to the school district, is this is the first rural school district that's participated in that. A lot of times this is only something that's available in our larger school districts,” Reynolds said
“And so, the fact that they figured out a way to bring this opportunity to their students, to a rural school district, it’s incredible, and so I'm really looking forward to following back up with them and understanding how we can possibly help scale this and give other school districts the opportunity to participate,” she said.
Along with Alburnett High School, Cedar Rapids Prairie High School in the College Community School District were the first schools in Iowa to pilot the 3DE program.
Reynolds calls for school districts to ‘look internally’ to prevent decline of students
Gov. Kim Reynolds, during a visit Tuesday to Alburnett schools, said school districts losing students because of a recent law on school choice have the responsibility to make families choose to stay in the district -- rather than asking the state government to help address the decline.
www.thegazette.com
