A plan to use taxpayer per-pupil funds for school vouchers of around $5,300 per year for up to 10,000 students to enroll in private school is still alive in the Iowa Legislature as the Senate and House have both passed competing education bills that stress “transparency” in public schools.

The voucher plan was omitted from House File 2577, though that bill and Senate File 2369 have similar proposals to require public schools to post the materials they use online, and they would have to make sure students don’t see or check out certain books if their parents request so. A fiscal note published in early March by the Legislative Services Agency shows that according to a survey 45.5% of Iowa schools do not have a public online library, and the average annual cost of software to support such is $16,000. District 39 State Senator Kevin Kinney (D) voted against the Senate’s education bill, and believes the state is already underfunding public schools, “Now the public schools, they can’t refuse students, kids with IEP’s and so forth, where private schools can. The other thing is they are not held to the same standards and oversight as the public schools are, so you’re giving the private schools public money with no oversight.”

The Senate’s voucher proposal would hold back around 30% of the funding that would have followed a student to their public school, and would add it to a fund that rewards districts who share staff. Both bills require high school students in American government classes to take the U.S. citizenship test, with the Senate making a score of at least 70% a requirement for graduation.