Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds reacts before signing a bill that creates Education Savings Accounts, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, at the Statehouse in Des Moines, Iowa. Any Iowa student who wants to attend a private school could use public money to pay for tuition or other expenses under the plan approved early Tuesday by the Legislature, making the state the third to pass a measure that allows such spending with few restrictions. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ pick to lead the Iowa Department of Education into its new “school choice” era chose to depart after just a few months on the job.
Reynolds immediately announced the hiring of McKenzie Snow. A snow job, so to speak, followed.
“Gov. Reynolds is an education champion, and I am humbled by her appointment to serve Iowa’s students in partnership with families and teachers,” Snow said in a news release. “All children — regardless of their background or ZIP code — deserve a great education that inspires and prepares them for the future. Together, we will continue to build upon Iowa’s commitment to educational excellence for all children.”
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Reynolds is an education champion, so long as your kids don’t go to public schools. She’s attacked them as centers of liberal indoctrination with “pornographic” books in school libraries, drag shows and support plans for transgender students. These institutions, long a point of pride in Iowa, should be feared, not celebrated. States like Florida should be our education model, she contends, an argument that would have been seen as political blasphemy in this state not that long ago.
Never mind that most kids, regardless of ZIP code or background, attend public schools. And we know, “all children” doesn’t include kids being targeted for discrimination by Republicans.
Snow currently works as the deputy secretary of education in Virginia, where she has championed “school choice” on behalf of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who rode to victory in 2021 on a book-banning agenda. She pushed for Educational Savings Accounts, such as the ones in Iowa that will give billions of dollars over the next decade to private school families whether they need it or not.
Snow was a top aide to former U.S. Secretary of Education Director Betsy DeVos during the Trump administration. DeVos has made no secret of her desire to dismantle public schools. Her PAC, American Federation for Children, poured more than $250,000 into Iowa legislative campaigns, including Republican lawmakers targeted by Reynolds for opposing her private school voucher plan.
Snow takes over for outgoing director Chad Aldis, who grew up in Camanche but lobbied in Ohio for private school choice, worked for the Florida Department of Education and was an analyst for the Education Committee in the Florida House. He’s leaving for unspecified “family reasons.”
So the new boss looks to be similar to the old boss. Neither of their resumes includes working as a teacher or administrator in public schools.
Hiring education directors marinated in the politics of school choice is a new phenomenon in Iowa.
In 1994, then Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Ted Stilwill to direct the department and push for the governor’s public schools reform agenda. Stilwill taught elementary classes, served as an elementary principal and became a deputy to the superintendent, all in Council Bluffs. He was deputy director of the Department of Education until he was named director.
He was reappointed by Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack. When Stilwill retired in 2004, Vilsack appointed Judy Jeffrey, who was a teacher in the Goldfield Community Schools and spent 24 years in the Council Bluffs district, where she was assistant superintendent. She joined the Department of Education in 1996. When Gov. Chet Culver took over the department, he asked Jeffrey to stay on, which she did until 2010.
When Branstad was elected in 2010, he did look out of state and appointed Jason Glass as director. But Glass had public school experience, teaching social studies in Kentucky and working for the Eagle County School District in Colorado and as a consultant for the Colorado Department of Education.
Glass was given the hefty job of championing Branstad’s plan to transform public education in Iowa. He sought to toss the old industrial model for educating students and bring in a new era.
But the governor’s reform efforts stalled in the divided Legislature and Glass departed in May 2013 to become the superintendent for the Eagle County district, which includes Vail.
Branstad then looked to Saydel Superintendent Brad Buck, who also worked as administrator at schools in Waukee, Hudson and North Mahaska. Buck departed in 2015 to take the superintendent’s job in Cedar Rapids. Branstad then turned to Ryan Wise, deputy director of the department.
Wise was reappointed by Reynolds and stayed until December 2018. He was replaced by Ann Lebo, who was executive director of the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners and worked as a secondary principal in Grundy Center.
Lebo resigned in March 2023. Then came Aldis and Snow.
The point of all this history is past Iowa governors, of both parties, appointed education directors who shared their vision for reforming, transforming and improving public education in Iowa. They still considered public schools an institution worth saving.
Reynolds is more interested in hiring people whose focus is handing public money to private education at the expense of public schools, while boosting schools that offer a particular worldview, including religious schools. That worldview doesn’t permit the teaching of honest American history, that LGBTQ people are members of your community and that people who are different deserve love, not discrimination. You have to wonder what Reynolds and Snow will come up with next.
This is, after all, a purely political agenda, not an educational agenda. No amount of blowing snow can hide it.
www.thegazette.com
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ pick to lead the Iowa Department of Education into its new “school choice” era chose to depart after just a few months on the job.
Reynolds immediately announced the hiring of McKenzie Snow. A snow job, so to speak, followed.
“Gov. Reynolds is an education champion, and I am humbled by her appointment to serve Iowa’s students in partnership with families and teachers,” Snow said in a news release. “All children — regardless of their background or ZIP code — deserve a great education that inspires and prepares them for the future. Together, we will continue to build upon Iowa’s commitment to educational excellence for all children.”
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Reynolds is an education champion, so long as your kids don’t go to public schools. She’s attacked them as centers of liberal indoctrination with “pornographic” books in school libraries, drag shows and support plans for transgender students. These institutions, long a point of pride in Iowa, should be feared, not celebrated. States like Florida should be our education model, she contends, an argument that would have been seen as political blasphemy in this state not that long ago.
Never mind that most kids, regardless of ZIP code or background, attend public schools. And we know, “all children” doesn’t include kids being targeted for discrimination by Republicans.
Snow currently works as the deputy secretary of education in Virginia, where she has championed “school choice” on behalf of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who rode to victory in 2021 on a book-banning agenda. She pushed for Educational Savings Accounts, such as the ones in Iowa that will give billions of dollars over the next decade to private school families whether they need it or not.
Snow was a top aide to former U.S. Secretary of Education Director Betsy DeVos during the Trump administration. DeVos has made no secret of her desire to dismantle public schools. Her PAC, American Federation for Children, poured more than $250,000 into Iowa legislative campaigns, including Republican lawmakers targeted by Reynolds for opposing her private school voucher plan.
Snow takes over for outgoing director Chad Aldis, who grew up in Camanche but lobbied in Ohio for private school choice, worked for the Florida Department of Education and was an analyst for the Education Committee in the Florida House. He’s leaving for unspecified “family reasons.”
So the new boss looks to be similar to the old boss. Neither of their resumes includes working as a teacher or administrator in public schools.
Hiring education directors marinated in the politics of school choice is a new phenomenon in Iowa.
In 1994, then Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Ted Stilwill to direct the department and push for the governor’s public schools reform agenda. Stilwill taught elementary classes, served as an elementary principal and became a deputy to the superintendent, all in Council Bluffs. He was deputy director of the Department of Education until he was named director.
He was reappointed by Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack. When Stilwill retired in 2004, Vilsack appointed Judy Jeffrey, who was a teacher in the Goldfield Community Schools and spent 24 years in the Council Bluffs district, where she was assistant superintendent. She joined the Department of Education in 1996. When Gov. Chet Culver took over the department, he asked Jeffrey to stay on, which she did until 2010.
When Branstad was elected in 2010, he did look out of state and appointed Jason Glass as director. But Glass had public school experience, teaching social studies in Kentucky and working for the Eagle County School District in Colorado and as a consultant for the Colorado Department of Education.
Glass was given the hefty job of championing Branstad’s plan to transform public education in Iowa. He sought to toss the old industrial model for educating students and bring in a new era.
But the governor’s reform efforts stalled in the divided Legislature and Glass departed in May 2013 to become the superintendent for the Eagle County district, which includes Vail.
Branstad then looked to Saydel Superintendent Brad Buck, who also worked as administrator at schools in Waukee, Hudson and North Mahaska. Buck departed in 2015 to take the superintendent’s job in Cedar Rapids. Branstad then turned to Ryan Wise, deputy director of the department.
Wise was reappointed by Reynolds and stayed until December 2018. He was replaced by Ann Lebo, who was executive director of the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners and worked as a secondary principal in Grundy Center.
Lebo resigned in March 2023. Then came Aldis and Snow.
The point of all this history is past Iowa governors, of both parties, appointed education directors who shared their vision for reforming, transforming and improving public education in Iowa. They still considered public schools an institution worth saving.
Reynolds is more interested in hiring people whose focus is handing public money to private education at the expense of public schools, while boosting schools that offer a particular worldview, including religious schools. That worldview doesn’t permit the teaching of honest American history, that LGBTQ people are members of your community and that people who are different deserve love, not discrimination. You have to wonder what Reynolds and Snow will come up with next.
This is, after all, a purely political agenda, not an educational agenda. No amount of blowing snow can hide it.
Opinion: Reynolds hires another chief of ‘choice’ to remake Iowa schools
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds reacts before signing a bill that creates Education Savings Accounts, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, at the …
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