John,

When I first graduated high school in 1998, Iowa was “First in the Nation” in education. It used to be a big bragging point for our state, but not anymore.

In recent years, Iowa’s ranking in education has fallen. Last year, U.S. World News and Report ranked the highest percentage of top-ranked public high schools in each state and Iowa was 48!!! And if Iowa Republicans have their way, it’s about to get A LOT worse for Iowa’s public schools. 

Iowa Republicans have made it a cornerstone of their agenda to level disingenuous attacks on Iowa’s teachers, and create a divide between educators and parents. Make no mistake: Iowa Republicans at the Capitol don’t care about helping students thrive, they’re just trying to score political points with their base. 

But now, Iowa Republicans are going even further and trying to defund our public schools. We can’t let them get away with it, John.

Gov. Reynolds is trying to ram through a proposal that would take away public dollars from our public schools and use the money for private school vouchers. Public dollars should be spent on public schools, not to fund unaccountable private schools. 

One of my big priorities if elected to the Iowa State House is to return Iowa to “First in the Nation” in education. I want Iowa’s students to have all of the educational opportunities that I had growing up. 

First and foremost, we must fully fund our public schools! Educators shouldn’t have to spend their own money at Target to buy school supplies because Iowa Republicans are taking away the resources they need to do their jobs. 

Second, we must support higher education opportunities that will keep students in Iowa. Republicans are refusing to appropriately fund our Regents Universities which is a big mistake. We should provide young folks with strong higher education opportunities to stay in Iowa and build a future here, rather than incentivize them to move out of state. 

Iowa students and educators deserve lawmakers that will fight to improve our public schools, not tear them down. As Iowa’s next State Representative, I will always Stand Tall for our educators and public schools. You have my word. 

J.D. Scholten

If you'd like to send a check to Scholten for Iowa, please mail it to: Scholten for Iowa, P.O. Box 5351, Sioux City, IA 51102.