Meeting Public Comments

Subcommittee meeting and times are as follows:

HF 2078

A bill for an act relating to resident dependents not enrolled in a public school or receiving an educational savings account payment by creating an opportunity tax credit available against the individual income tax, creating a fund, making appropriations, and including effective date and retroactive applicability provisions.

Subcommittee members: Fett-CH, Gehlbach, Matson

Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Time: 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM

Location: RM 19

Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.

Comments Submitted:

02-17-2026

Heather Staton

Opposed. It seems very much as if this "tax credit" is for people who can already afford to send their children to private school or homeschool. The state of Iowa should be focused on helping low income families, not handing out more tax credits to people who don't need them. If we can't afford to fund public schools, how can we afford this?

02-17-2026

Linda Schneider

OPPOSED. Is the state trying to incentize not attending public schools and breaking taxpayers in the process? There are so many things my grandson's school can't afford as it is. Do better and fund public schools over the rate of inflation and quit giving out taxpayer money out by the bucket load. Please vote NO on this garbage bill.

02-17-2026

Dustin Ganfield

For! This bill makes sense as it both empowers those closest to the student to make the decision about their most appropriate educational model and it takes less money to execute that model. Any student utilizing this tax credit of $4000 offsets the nearly $8000 the state spends on Public or ESA to educate that student, and on every observed metric, they're doing a better job. The average public school is delivering below average results. To the contrary, the parents who know what the student needs better than you legislators do, are providing exceptional educations. And those results would save us taxpayers over $3800 less per student! That is a win for all rational people in the state. Don't be fooled into thinking the system is underfunded. They have an expenditure problem, a values problem, and a reality problem these days. Spending the state's education dollars where they are best accounted for, on models that deliver results, is a sensible way for Iowa to move forward.

02-17-2026

Amy Cook

Opposed. Why wouldnt a parent that doesnt care about their child receiving a proper education simply collect the money and send their child to work at a minimum wage job at the age of 13? No oversight, no accountability, and you want the public to bankroll it?

02-17-2026

Debra Walz

Please vote no. Iowans currently give more money than we should to fund private schools. It seems as if our legislators are trying to destroy the public school system. Public schools make a state strong. A good educational system strengthens the economy.

02-17-2026

Stacy Volmer

I strongly oppose House File 2078. At a time when public schools are already underfunded, this diverts even more taxpayer dollars away from the system that serves most Iowa children.This is an openended drain on the general fund with limited accountability and retroactive application. Public schools must serve every child, including students with disabilities and high needs, yet this bill shifts resources to subsidize private choices.If Iowa has $4,000 per child to invest, it should strengthen public schools, not undermine them. I urge lawmakers to reject HF 2078.

02-18-2026

Sadye Scott-Hainchek

I am opposed to this proposed legislation. I firmly believe that taxpayer money belongs in public schools, not private schools, and it is even more appalling that our legislators would even consider sending, literally, blank checks to individual families for homeschooling without any sort of eligibility or accountability requirements.How legislators can repeatedly add bureaucratic hoops for Medicaid and food stamps and claim its out of fiscal responsibility, but turn around and suggest sending literally thousands of dollars to homeschooling parents while asking for nothing in return from them is beyond me.If there is money for this in the state budget, there was more money that could have been allocated to public schools and to feeding/providing medical treatment to our most vulnerable members.

02-18-2026

Norma Ewinger

OPPOSED. This bill is literally paying parents to send their children to private schools or homeschool. You appear to be trying to break the backs of our public schools and tax us to death. Do you not realize that 92% of students attend public schools which are already unable to do so much because of the constant cuts in tax dollars support? Iowa schools used to be number one in the nation but the constant cuts have caused us to drop to the middle of the list. In my mind, there is a real connection between the cuts in money to our schools and the drop in our rating.