From Washington Examiner: Iowa became the first state in the nation to be approved for a sweeping federal education waiver that allows state leaders to bypass major federal compliance requirements and give the state more flexibility on how federal education money is spent, Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) and Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced on Wednesday.
The approval positions Iowa as the national test case for the Trump administration’s effort to return greater control over education policy and funding from Washington to the states. The waiver allows Iowa to consolidate and manage 100% of its federal “state activities” education funding through a single block grant, significantly reducing reporting and paperwork requirements tied to federal dollars.
Under the new framework, Iowa officials estimated the state would redirect nearly $8 million over four years and thousands of staff hours away from compliance work and into classrooms. State leaders said those resources will instead be used to strengthen the teacher pipeline, expand evidence-based reading and math instruction, narrow achievement gaps, and support career and postsecondary readiness.
“I am thrilled to announce that Iowa is leading the nation as the first state approved for the returning education-to-the-states waiver,” McMahon said. “This is a groundbreaking first step that gives state leaders more control over federal education dollars.”
She said the waiver is part of the process initiated by the Trump administration to dismantle the education system, which she described as overly centralized at the federal level.
“It’s breaking up the education bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., and returning responsibility for educating children to the states,” McMahon said. “States should lead. Washington should support and get out of the way.”
Gov. Reynolds celebrated the move.
“Iowa will begin shifting nearly $8 million and thousands of hours of staff time from bureaucracy to actually putting that expertise and those resources in the classroom,” she said. “That means greater flexibility to strengthen the teacher pipeline, narrow student achievement gaps, and continue our work to expand evidence-based instruction.”
Read more at Washington Examiner
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