The Webster City Community School District Board of Education will meet this evening at the School Administration Building, 820 Des Moines Street, Webster City.

This meeting begins at 6 p.m.

On the agenda is a resolution asking the board to urge the state government to alter the school voucher program.

It reads:

A school board resolution urging the Iowa Governor and State Legislature to fully fund our public schools and phase out the Education Savings Accounts (ESAs).”

Data presented in the resolution states that “91% of lowa students are enrolled in public schools” and “lowa’s ESAs defund our public schools and have cost lowa taxpayers $129 million in 2023-24, $218 million in 2024-2025, and is estimated to cost $315 million in 2025-26 with all income eligibility caps removed.”

It also states that “the vast majority of private schools in lowa are religious, and publicly funding them blurs the line between separation of church and state.” The data is from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Here are the proposed actions:

1. The school board would urge the governor and Legislature to fully fund public schools by “an annual 5% increase of State Supplemental Aid rate (adjusted for inflation);” and

2. The Webster City Board of Education would petition both to keep the income cap in place for ESAs, phase the program

out over the next five years, and use public funds for public schools only.”