KNOW YOUR STATE
“Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.”
Iowa has a Department of Education, a State Board, and a State Director of Education. The State Board consists of 9 members appointed to 6-year terms.
Every state sets its own school choice rules, and Iowa is no exception. The NWEF School Choice Index scores Iowa on 17 measures, from open enrollment to education savings accounts, then ranks it against all 50 states. Open any category below to see where Iowa earns points and where it falls short.
Iowa scores well on online learning. Its biggest gaps are charter school access.
Scored from state law · as of August 2026
Your state lawmakers wrote the rules behind this score. Most of them have never seen how Iowa compares to other states.
Submit the form below and we'll send you two ways to find your own lawmakers, plus a short message you can copy, personalize, and send. It takes a couple of minutes.
Honoring Noah Webster's vision of virtue-driven learning, we deliver resources grounded in founding principles to empower families and educators - because parents know best, and America's future depends on it.
