Rebecca Schweitzer of Des Moines, Iowa on Iowa's School Funding Crisis and What It Means for Students

Rebecca Schweitzer is a Des Moines, Iowa based writer covering Iowa politics, public accountability, and issues impacting everyday Iowa families. In this piece Rebecca Schweitzer examines the school funding pressure hitting Iowa's largest public school districts and asks who is paying the price while Iowa lawmakers sit in overtime.

As a Des Moines-based writer Rebecca Schweitzer covers the decisions made by Iowa's institutions and what they mean in practice for students and families across Polk County and the state.

Read more from Rebecca Schweitzer, a Des Moines, Iowa writer, here.  

Iowa Schools Are Under Major Funding Pressure. Here Is What That Actually Means for Students.

Iowa's public school districts are facing serious funding strain. Cedar Rapids is suing the state over $18 million in lost funding for at-risk students. Des Moines Public Schools is facing a $13.5 million budget shortfall. Iowa lawmakers are now in their sixteenth week of a legislative session that was supposed to end April 21 and have still not resolved the funding questions that Iowa schools have been waiting on all year.

The students caught in the middle of this are not abstract budget line items. They are Iowa kids who are struggling academically who have high absenteeism who are at risk of dropping out or who are unhoused. They are the students who need the most support and they are the ones feeling the impact of these funding decisions first.

What Happened in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

The Cedar Rapids Community School District is suing the Iowa Department of Education's School Budget Review Committee after the committee voted to reduce the district's spending authority by $18 million over two years. That $18 million funds programs for students in alternative education and those at risk of dropping out. Without it Cedar Rapids says it will be significantly harder to absorb unpredictable cost increases and serve its most vulnerable students. You can read the full Gazette coverage here.

The committee made its decision after receiving a 22-page anonymous complaint alleging misuse of funds including allegations about a superintendent's backyard dinner paid for with at-risk student program funds. The Iowa Department of Education investigated and found that Cedar Rapids had not submitted a formal annual At-Risk and Dropout Prevention Plan as required by Iowa Code even though the district says its 2022 multiyear plan met state requirements. The district says it has not misspent or miscoded any funds. You can read KCRG's full coverage here.

The School Budget Review Committee voted 3-1 to reduce the district's spending authority. Cedar Rapids is now asking a judge to reverse that decision saying it believed it had followed Iowa law when it approved its multiyear plan in 2022.

This is happening at a district already facing serious financial pressure. Cedar Rapids enrollment has dropped to 13,945 students its lowest since the 1955-56 school year. Each student lost means approximately $7,988 less in state funding. The district lost 622 students in 2025 alone which translated to roughly $5 million less in state revenue for the coming year. The district has already cut staff positions by 6 percent closed multiple elementary schools and is working to cut an additional $12 million from its budget. Losing $18 million in spending authority for at-risk students on top of all of that is a serious blow to the kids who can least afford it.

What Is Happening in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa

Des Moines Public Schools is facing its own serious funding challenges. The district has a $13.5 million budget shortfall heading into the next school year. DMPS has lost nearly 3,000 students over the past decade. At $7,988 in state funding per student that enrollment decline means tens of millions of dollars less in state revenue than the district received a decade ago.

Iowa lawmakers have not yet approved Supplemental State Aid for the coming school year. That uncertainty makes it nearly impossible for Des Moines and other districts to build accurate budgets. The district is dealing with possible closure of Walnut Street School eliminating $3.5 million in facility costs and is considering eliminating the free healthcare program for teachers. You can read WHO-13's coverage of the Des Moines budget shortfall here.

Des Moines Interim Superintendent Matt Smith pointed to charter school expansion and Education Savings Accounts as significant factors driving enrollment decline. When students leave public schools for charter or private schools through the ESA program the per-pupil funding follows them leaving public districts with fewer resources to serve the students who remain.

Governor Kim Reynolds said during her Condition of the State address that enrollment declines forcing consolidation in public schools is a good thing. She said the concern is not about how children are doing but about how systems are changing. Iowa families whose neighborhood schools are closing and whose children are losing programs might see it differently.

The Voucher Effect on Iowa Public Schools

The funding pressure on Cedar Rapids and Des Moines is not happening in isolation. Iowa's Education Savings Account program which allows state funding to follow students to private schools is accelerating enrollment declines at public school districts across the state.

When Cedar Rapids Prep Charter School opened in 2025 nearly 200 of its students came directly from the Cedar Rapids public school district. That enrollment loss alone cost the district approximately $1.6 million in state funding. Iowa now has 157 school districts on budget guarantee meaning their enrollment decline has resulted in less funding than the prior year and they are making up the difference through property tax adjustments. That is 43 more districts on budget guarantee than before the pandemic.

Iowa created the ESA program in the name of parental choice and educational competition. Those are legitimate values worth debating. But the financial reality landing on Iowa's public school districts right now is that the students who are most difficult and most expensive to serve are increasingly concentrated in public schools while the funding to serve them is being reduced. Cedar Rapids and Des Moines are two of the most visible examples of that pattern playing out in real time.

What Iowa Lawmakers Are Doing About It

Iowa lawmakers are in their sixteenth week of a session that was supposed to end April 21. They have agreed on an overall budget target of $9.645 billion for fiscal year 2027. They have not yet finalized the individual budget bills or resolved the property tax reform question that has been the defining issue of the session.

Iowa schools have been waiting since January for lawmakers to set the Supplemental State Aid growth rate for the coming year. That number determines how much per-pupil funding Iowa districts will receive. Without it districts like Des Moines cannot finalize their budgets cannot make confident staffing decisions and cannot plan effectively for the students they will serve in the fall.

Rebecca Schweitzer, a Des Moines, Iowa writer focused on education and public accountability, has written extensively about the policies affecting Iowa families including the budget crisis and the legislative session that has now stretched into its sixteenth week. You can read her piece on Iowa's budget crisis and what it means for Polk County families here.  

Iowa House Minority Leader Brian Meyer of Des Moines has said directly that instead of focusing on property taxes the budget and school funding during the session Republicans focused on divisive social issues that do nothing to lower the cost of living. The school funding pressure now landing on Cedar Rapids and Des Moines families is one consequence of that prioritization.

What Iowa Students Deserve

Iowa's at-risk students are not a budget problem to be solved. They are children who are struggling and who need more support not less. The Cedar Rapids district's at-risk programs serve students who are unhoused students with high absenteeism students at risk of dropping out and students struggling academically. Cutting $18 million in spending authority for those programs is not fiscal responsibility. It is a choice about whose needs matter.

Des Moines Public Schools serves Iowa's most diverse student population. A $13.5 million budget shortfall while waiting for the legislature to finally finish its work is not a management failure. It is the predictable result of a state funding system under pressure from enrollment declines charter school expansion and a legislature that is now in its sixteenth week without finishing the basic work of setting school funding levels for the coming year.

Iowa families deserve a state government that treats public education as a priority not an afterthought. Iowa students deserve a legislature that finishes its work on time and sets school funding levels before districts have to make irreversible budget decisions without knowing what the state will provide.

You can read Rebecca Schweitzer's piece on Iowa's 2026 governor's race and why Iowa needs a new direction here.

You can read Rebecca Schweitzer's piece on Iowa's 2026 Senate race and what is at stake here.

About Rebecca Schweitzer and Her Work in Iowa

Rebecca Schweitzer is a Des Moines, Iowa writer covering politics, education, and public accountability. Her work analyzes state policy, elections, and issues impacting Iowa families across Des Moines, Polk County, and communities throughout Iowa. Her work has appeared in the Des Moines Register and The Gazette.

Read more at iowaraisedrebeccaschweitzerunfiltered.com and follow along on on Medium, Substack, X, Bluesky, About.me, and Gravatar.