1. United States
2. Iowa
3. Letter

Iowa taxpayers have sent $314 million this year alone into the state’s Education Savings Account program. A private company called Odyssey administers those funds. And when State Auditor Rob Sand requested basic financial records to review how that money was spent, the Governor’s office refused to provide them. Let that sink in. A private company. Hundreds of millions of public dollars. And your constituents are legally blocked from knowing where it went. Meanwhile, every dollar that follows a student out of a public school is a dollar that doesn’t pay for the teacher, the counselor, or the school bus that remains. Public schools can’t lay off a fraction of a staff member. So arts programs disappear. Class sizes grow. The children who stay — often the most vulnerable — pay the price for a system that was never designed with them in mind. Iowa families are not asking for a partisan fight. They are asking for a basic answer: where did the money go? I urge you to take three actions: 1. DEMAND AN UNOBSTRUCTED AUDIT. Require the State Auditor’s office be given full, immediate access to all ESA and charter school financial records — expenditures, vendor contracts, administrative fees, and student outcomes — without interference from the Governor’s office. 2. PASS EQUAL TRANSPARENCY STANDARDS. No program spending public money should be exempt from public disclosure. Require all ESA and charter recipients to report spending in plain language on a publicly accessible state website, updated annually. 3. GO ON THE RECORD. Co-sponsor legislation mandating these reforms — and let your constituents see exactly where you stand. Public money is public money. There is no legitimate argument for hiding how it is spent from the people who paid it. I am your constituent. I will be watching your response.