Clara Schulz and her family stand out at a campaign stop for Republican Zach Lahn in Emmetsburg.
Most of the more than 100 people gathered at Iowa Lakes Community College on Sept. 25 are older than the mother of two from nearby Mallard.
Schulz homeschools her children, who are 10 and 8 years old. She considers education a priority this election, and Lahn has her vote.
“He has been very supportive of homeschool families, and also parental choice, which I think every parent should be able to choose where their kids are going to school,” Schulz said.
Lahn has made education and school choice central to his campaign.
“If you listen to my campaign very much, you'll hear me talk mostly about public schools,” Lahn said during the visit.
He supports state-funded education savings accounts, or ESAs, which help families pay for private school tuition. More than 41,000 students used the accounts last school year. The Legislature budgeted $350 million for the program in the current fiscal year.
After the event, Lahn said parents deserve more say over where their children go to school and how their tax money is spent.
“Parents see the opportunity for their kids, and they want to use that as a way to get a better education for their kids,” Lahn said. “When we talk about education in the state, I want the whole state to be number one in the nation for education. That includes public schools, of course. I also want our private schools to be very good.”
Iowa ranked 27th in education in the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2026 Kids Count Data Book.
Lahn has discussed expanding ESAs, but doesn’t support extending them to homeschooling families like the Schulzes.
“I believe that puts strings that I wouldn’t want attached to homeschool families — and I believe that homeschool families should remain independent and have their independence and not have the government telling them what to do,” Lahn said.
At an event at Iowa State University, Democrat Rob Sand called for more accountability for the ESA program.
“I want public oversight of public money — period. If you don't want public oversight of public schools, don't give it to them,” Sand said.
He wants income limits for families using ESAs and says private schools receiving public money should accept anyone who applies. Currently, they can turn students away.
Sand argues that Iowa can’t afford the program in its current form, pointing to the state’s budget shortfall. Iowa is projected to spend about $1.2 billion more than it collects in revenue this fiscal year, with savings covering the gap.
“At the end of the day, the things that we're proposing are the things that I think the vast majority of Iowans can agree on, no matter what their party affiliation is,” Sand said. “There should be audits of how public money gets spent. There should be financial rules for what they can spend it on.”
Lahn also supports a review of ESA spending. But he wants a third party to conduct it instead of the state auditor’s office, which Sand currently leads.
“We can't use the auditor's office for that because it's become a political branch of the government, and you know Rob Sand has made that clearly the case,” Lahn said.
How much will these differences matter to voters?
University of Iowa political science professor Tim Hagle said education can carry more weight for parents and teachers because of their direct connection to what’s happening in the classroom.
“How's your school doing? Are you happy with the with the education they're getting? Are they having the appropriate opportunities? Is your child succeeding? So for those folks, that's going to be a pretty important issue,” Hagle said.
Hagle said the key to victory is winning over independents, who care less about political infighting and more about everyday concerns such as the economy, healthcare and education.
“Right now it seems that Sand is doing better, but it still seems to be a competitive race,” Hagle said. “It all depends on the turnout.”
For Ross Eveland, a father of three from Story County who attended Sand’s appearance in Ames, education savings accounts are his top concern.
“I was a public-school kid. I think it's crazy that private schools can get tax money at all," Eveland said. "Most of the people going to private schools already have the money — they don't need more money from people like me."
Eveland and Clara Schulz plan to vote with their children’s futures in mind — but put their trust in different candidates.
