Historical public education information in Iowa, 2011-2015

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

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Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

This page contains archived information on Iowa's public education system, primarily from 2011-2012, but also from other years due to the availability of data at the time it was written. For more recent information, view Iowa's public education page.

The Iowa public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards members and superintendents. In 2012 Iowa had 495,870 students enrolled in a total of 1,411 schools in 361 school districts. While the national ratio of teachers to students is 1:16, in Iowa there were 34,658 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 14 students. There was roughly one administrator for every 277 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average Iowa spent $9,807 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it 27th highest in the nation. The 89% high school graduation rate for Iowa was the highest in the nation in 2012.

State agencies

See also: Iowa Department of Education

The Iowa Department of Education oversees K-12 public education, non-public schools that receive state accreditation, area education agencies (AEAs), community colleges and teacher preparation programs in the state of Iowa. The department was created by the 35th General Assembly in 1913 and was originally called the Department of Public Instruction. The name was adopted in 1986. As of 2015, the Director of Education was Brad Buck.

The mission statement of the Iowa Department of Education reads:

“

The Iowa Department of Education (DE) works with the Iowa State Board of Education (State Board) to provide support, supervision, and oversight for the state education system that includes public elementary and secondary schools, nonpublic schools that receive state accreditation, area education agencies (AEAs), community colleges, and teacher preparation programs.

”

The State Board of Education is composed of ten members that are appointed by the governor with the consent of the Iowa State Senate. Nine are voting members that serve six-year terms and one is a student member who serves a one-year term. The Board of Education is responsible for establishing, recommending, and overseeing the implementation of education policy in the state.

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how Iowa compared to three neighboring states during the 2011-2012 school year with respect to number of students, schools, the number of teachers per pupil (rounded), and the number of administrators per pupil (rounded). Further comparisons between these states with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional comparison, 2011-2012
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
Iowa	1,411	361	495,870	34,658	1:14	1:277	$9,807
Illinois	4,336	1,075	2,083,097	131,777	1:16	1:283	$10,774
Minnesota	2,392	555	839,738	52,832	1:16	1:396	$10,823
Missouri	2,408	572	916,584	66,252	1:14	1:294	$9,410
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	1:295	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey", 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12 U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in Iowa as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic information for Iowa's K-12 public school system
Ethnicity	Students	State percentage	United States percentage**
American Indian	2,236	0.45%	1.11%
Asian	10,245	2.08%	4.73%
African American	25,303	5.13%	15.86%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl.	759	0.15%	0.42%
Hispanic	44,191	8.95%	24.64%
White	400,101	81.05%	51.64%
Two or More	13,035	2.64%	2.57%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the United States

During the 2011-2012 school year, the largest number of students in Iowa attended rural schools, with over 65% attending rural or town schools. Of its neighbors, Iowa had the lowest percentage of suburban schools, but more than a quarter attended schools in big cities.

Student distribution by region, 2011-2012 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural schools
Iowa	26.4%	8.2%	25.4%	40.1%
Illinois	31.3%	43.3%	10.3%	15.1%
Minnesota	20.8%	29.4%	19.5%	30.4%
Missouri	17.4%	29.9%	19.2%	33.5%
United States	28.9%	34%	11.6%	25.4%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), “Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey,” SY 2011-12 Provisional Version 1a.

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state for a full comparison of all states.

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Compared to three neighboring states (Minnesota, Missouri, and Illinois), Iowa students did slightly better than Missouri and Illinois, but not as well as Minnesota during the 2012-2013 school year. According to the Iowa "Annual Condition of Education Report for 2013," National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results remain unchanged. Iowa fourth and eighth grade NAEP results in mathematics and reading were also similar from the prior years, with no significant gains in either content area or grade level. See the table below for a full comparison.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Iowa	48%	36%	38%	37%
Illinois	39%	36%	34%	36%
Minnesota	59%	47%	41%	41%
Missouri	39%	33%	35%	36%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT comparisons

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state

See also: ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates, average composite ACT and SAT scores, and rankings for Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri for 2012 and 2013. In 2013, the number of Iowa SAT I takers was about 1,132 (approximately 3 percent) of the high school graduates. Iowa’s averages continued to be around 100 standard score points higher than the nation’s in both critical reading and mathematics. According to the Iowa Department of Education, the percentage of Iowa students taking the ACT was 66 percent for the class of 2013, compared to the national percentage of 54 percent in 2013. Iowa students continued to score well on the ACT with an average composite score of 22.1.

Comparison Table for graduation rates and scoring**
State	Graduation rate 2012*		Average ACT Composite 2012		Average SAT Composite 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Iowa	89%	First	22.1	63%	1773	3%
Illinois	82%	Third	20.9	100%	1807	5%
Minnesota	78%	31	22.8	10%	1780	4%
Missouri	86%	9	21.6	25%	1173	5%
United States	80%		21.1		1498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Iowa was higher than the national average at 3.4 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 3.2 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in Iowa

As of June 2015, school choice options in Iowa included: an inter-district open enrollment policy, an education expense credit, two state-led online programs, and a tax-credit scholarship program, which awarded an average scholarship amount of $1,086 to 10,446 students participating in 153 schools in the 2012-2013 school year. In addition, in 2012-2013 approximately 14,047 students, or 2.67% of the total student-aged population, were homeschooled and about 42,058 students, or 8.67% of school age children, were enrolled in 211 private schools.

Education funding and expenditures

See also: Iowa state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in fiscal year 2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

The total state budget expenditures for fiscal year 2013 were $19,609 million, of which $3,173 million, or 16.6% is estimated to have been allocated for primary and secondary education. This represents a drop of 6.21 percent since fiscal year 2011 when the state spent 17.7 of the budget on primary and secondary education. Iowa education funding derived mainly from state and local resources in roughly equal amounts, with less than 10 percent of funding coming from the federal government.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems
State	Percent of budget 2012)	Per pupil spending (2011)	Revenue sources (2011)
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
Iowa	16.8%	$9,807	8.8%	62.12%	29.08%
Illinois	15.8%	$10,774	13.91%	63.73%	22.36%
Minnesota	23.8%	$10,712	13.75%	55.03%	31.22%
Missouri	22.6%	$9,410	22.33%	45.95%	31.72%
Sources: NASBO, "State Expenditure Report," Table 8: Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures As a Percent of Total Expenditures U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the United States to compare all states.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in Iowa totaled approximately $5.8 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including revenue sources, for Iowa and surrounding states.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
Iowa	$596,688	$2,537,754	$2,742,378	$5,876,820
Illinois	$2,895,524	$9,304,948	$16,499,969	$28,700,441
Minnesota	$886,619	$6,657,769	$3,641,015	$11,185,403
Missouri	$1,389,362	$2,963,196	$5,749,895	$10,102,453
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Iowa public school system expenditures totaled approximately $5.8 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including expenditure types, for Iowa and surrounding states.

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	General expenditures	Capital outlay	Other	Total expenditures
Iowa	$4,839,681	$861,361	$126,588	$5,827,630
Illinois	$24,525,567	$1,884,976	$1,138,206	$27,548,749
Minnesota	$8,907,505	$1,077,960	$882,342	$10,867,816
Missouri	$8,664,338	$856,962	$462,300	$9,983,600
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

Note: Salaries given are averages for the state. Salaries may vary between a state's urban, suburban, and rural districts and should be adjusted for cost of living. For example, a MacIver Institute study of average teacher salaries in 60 metropolitan areas found that salaries in New York City were the third-highest in absolute figures but 59th-highest when adjusted for the cost of living.

According to the Iowa Department of Education the average annual teacher salary for the 2012-2013 school year was $52,635 which ranked it 25th in the U.S. The average principal salary of $91,509 was 24th highest in the U.S. The chart below details the average teacher salaries for the 1999-2000, 2009-2010, and 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years, and shows the average percent of change.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
Iowa	$48,757	$52,973	$51,076	$51,528	5.7%
Illinois	$63,527	$66,264	$58,595	$59,113	-6.9%
Minnesota	$54,393	$55,967	$55,874	$56,268	3.4%
Missouri	$48,727	$48,373	$47,178	$47,517	-2.5%
United States	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state." Source: NCES, "Table 211.60. Estimated average annual salary of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools, by state: Selected years, 1969-70 through 2012-13"

Organizations

Unions

In 2012 the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. Iowa ranked 27th overall, or average, which was in the middle tier of five tiers.

The main union related to the Indiana school system is Iowa State Education Association (ISEA), an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA). ISEA is the largest education association in the state. For the 2008 tax period ISEA had: $14,425,643 in total revenue.

List of local Iowa school unions:

• Iowa State Education Association
• West Des Moines Education Association
• Burlington Education Association
• Fort Dodge Education Association
• Forest City Education Association
• Cedar Falls Education Association
• Nora Springs-Rock Falls Education Association
• Northwood-Kensett Education Association
• Iowa Lakes Community College Education Association
• Griswold Community Education Association

Government sector lobbying

See also: Iowa government sector lobbying

The main education government sector lobbying organization is the Iowa Association of School Boards.

Transparency

Iowa has no statewide, official spending database online. However, some independent state spending databases in Iowa include: the Public Interest Institute and www.iowatransparency.org.

Studies and reports

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

See also

• Public education in Iowa
• Iowa
• Education Policy in the U.S.