Which Iowa districts may be hit most by private-school scholarships? This map gives a clue:

Mike Trautmann, Des Moines Register
Updated ·4 min read
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This fall, more than 18,000 Iowa students could have their K-12 private schooling paid for by taxpayers, courtesy of a new "school choice" law.

Iowa has approved 18,627 applications for education savings accounts that will provide up to $7,635 per student for the 2023-24 school year. The new taxpayer-funded accounts can be used to pay private school expenses, starting with tuition and fees.

Those students must be admitted to private schools before the money will be paid out.

So, which Iowa school districts could see the biggest hit from ESA applications? While the state hasn't released the number of approved applications by district, it has by county.

And while counties like Polk (3,144) and Linn (1,318) had the most approved applications, other counties had far higher rates compared with their population. Correspondingly, the schools in those districts could see a greater impact from education savings accounts.

Here's the school districts in the counties with the Top 5 per-capita rates of approved applications.

No. 5: Plymouth County

Plymouth County in conservative northwest Iowa had 411 approved applications (fewer than many counties) but it had rate of 16 approved ESAs for every 1,000 residents. It was one of three far northwest Iowa counties to make the Top 5.

Here's the public schools in Plymouth County (2022-23 enrollment in parentheses):

  • Akron-Westfield School District (608 students)

  • Hinton School District (842)

  • Kingsley-Pierson School District (453)

  • Le Mars School District (2,309; Le Mars has two private schools with 493 students within the district)

  • Remsen-Union School District (310; Remsen-Union has two private schools with 207 students within the district)

No. 3 (tie): Delaware and Lyon counties

Delaware County had more approved applications than Lyon County, 282-196, but both had a per-capita rate of 16.1 applications per 1,000 residents. Lyon County is among the northwest contingent with much higher rates of approved ESAs.

Here are the public schools in Delaware County:

  • Maquoketa Valley School District (705)

  • West Delaware County School District (1,380; West Delaware has one private school with 238 students within the district)

  • Western Dubuque Community School District (3,743; Western Dubuque has six private schools with 1,326 students within the district)

And here are the public schools in Lyon County:

  • Central Lyon School District (796; Central Lyon has one private school with 25 students within the district)

  • George-Little Rock School District (426)

  • West Lyon School District (996; West Lyon has one private school with 68 students within the district)

No. 2: Carroll County

Carroll County, in west-central Iowa, had 472 approved education savings account applications, which equates to 22.9 per 1,000 residents.

Here are the public schools in Carroll County:

  • Carroll School District (1,803; Carroll has two private schools with 1,058 students within the district))

  • Coon Rapids-Bayard School District (436)

  • Glidden-Ralston School District (386)

  • IKM-Manning School District (710)

No. 1: Sioux County

The Iowa county with the highest per-capita rate of approved applications is, no surprise, in the northwest.

Sioux County had 1,183 approvals (among the highest in the state). That equates to 32.8 per 1,000 residents in this Republican stronghold — the highest rate in the state.

The county also has 11 private schools, a higher number than many counties in Iowa.

Here are the public schools in Sioux County:

  • Boyden-Hull School District (630; Boyden-Hull has three private schools with 643 students within the district))

  • MOC-Floyd Valley School District (1,559; MOC-Floyd Valley has three private schools with 660 students within the district)

  • Rock Valley School District (976; Rock Valley has two private schools with 652 students within the district)

  • Sioux Center School District (1,725; Sioux Center has one private school with 509 students within the district)

  • West Sioux School District (780; West Sioux has one private school with 63 students within the district)

Which school districts face the most competition from private schools?

In February, the Register published an insightful analysis of which Iowa kids could be helped the most by the education savings accounts Reynolds was pushing through the Legislature.

It showed that Iowa has 183 nonpublic schools, but 42 of the state's 99 counties have zero. Others, like Sioux County, have nearly a dozen or more.

Moreover, it showed that some rural areas have private schools with a larger share of the student population.

In Sioux County, for example, the three nonpublic schools in the Boyden-Hull district have more students than the district's public schools, according to Department of Education data.

In two nearby districts — Remsen-Union and Rock Valley — two of every five students attend a nonpublic school.

That could mean in counties like Sioux with higher rates of approved applications, students already enrolled in private schools could make up a good share of those who will receive taxpayer funding through ESAs.

Editor's note: A previously published version of this story listed the incorrect 2022-23 enrollment for the Maquoketa Valley School District, which has 705 students.

Des Moines Register reporters Katie Akin, Tim Webber, Samantha Hernandez and Stephen Gruber-Miller contributed reporting.

Mike Trautmann is the News Director/Politics Editor for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at mtrautmann@gannett.com; Twitter: @DMRPoliticsCzar.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: These Iowa school districts may see biggest impact from ESA approvals