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This article is part of 蜜桃影视鈥檚 EDlection 2026 coverage, which takes a look at candidates鈥� education policies and how they might impact the American education system after the 2026 election.

In a campaign season that looks increasingly full of promise for Democrats, Iowa gubernatorial hopeful Rob Sand is emerging as one of the cycle鈥檚 brightest prospects.

The two-term state auditor has led in every head-to-head poll against his opponent, Republican businessman Zach Lahn, . Professional have for weeks, making him one of just two Democrats already favored to flip a red seat blue. While the state has drifted rightward over the last decade 鈥� Sand would be the first Democrat elected governor in 20 years, and he is currently the only member of his party serving in statewide office 鈥� a friendly national environment appears to be helping his chances.

But when it comes to Iowa鈥檚 schools, which serve over 500,000 students and account for , getting the job will be the easy part. 

If elected, Sand will be one of the only Democrats in the country presiding over a statewide system of education savings accounts (ESAs) 鈥� a form of school choice that directly provides families money to spend on learning costs, including private school tuition. Sand says the initiative desperately needs oversight, an 鈥渋nvitation to fraud.鈥� 

Yet he will have few practical tools to make real change. Even if voters abandon them on Election Day, Republicans will undoubtedly continue to dominate the Iowa General Assembly, where of nearly 2-to-1. What鈥檚 more, the state faces a in the current fiscal year, even as local districts are already struggling to keep pace with rising costs. Sand has proposed both new regulations on the use of ESAs and a meaningful increase in K鈥�12 spending, which trails most other states. But prospects for either are cloudy.

State Sen. Jeff Taylor, a Republican serving as vice chair of the chamber鈥檚 education committee, said he saw no chance of sweeping revisions to school choice policy.

鈥淗e’s not going to be in a position to change existing law,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淗e can propose things, but as long as Republicans control the legislature, it’s unlikely that his more dramatic changes will get a serious hearing.”

Depending on how well the midterms turn out for them, a similar dilemma awaits any Democrat chosen to lead largely conservative-dominated states. In places like Alaska, Ohio, Georgia, and even Texas, newly elected Democrats face severe political constraints that could hamper their attempts to implement or even formulate a coherent education agenda. A blue wave alone likely won鈥檛 be sufficient to alter that picture.

Margaret Buckton, a school finance expert who lobbies for both urban and rural school districts, said the 鈥渟ea change鈥� in the school choice environment made it difficult to see any room for bipartisan lawmaking on schools or much else.

鈥淚 don’t even know what’s left,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he bargain is going to have to come in some policy area, and I honestly don’t know what it is.”

Need for compromise

The limitations facing Iowa Democrats are hardly a secret. Sand campaign deputy manager Emma O鈥橞rien acknowledged that some level of cooperation would be necessary to accomplish anything over the next four years.

鈥淩ob is very realistic about the fact that he’ll be working with a Republican legislature if he wins in November 鈥� the same Republican legislature that passed the voucher program,鈥� O鈥橞rien said. 鈥淗e will not have unilateral power to reverse anything, but he will use every avenue to pursue his education policies and will work with the Republican legislature to find common ground “

The auditor has largely couched his criticisms of the policy in terms of accountability and transparency, to uncover wasteful spending and limit  tuition increases at participating private schools. Sand also favors changing the law to prevent the state鈥檚 wealthiest families from receiving accounts. 

Lahn, whose campaign did not respond to requests for comment, . An educational entrepreneur himself 鈥� Lahn , which he reportedly sustains through 鈥� the Republican nevertheless does not support extending ESAs to homeschooling families, as has been suggested by some Republicans.

First established in 2023, as part of a wave of similar laws adopted in red states, Iowa鈥檚 ESA program at a cost of approximately $330 million in 2026 . A report issued by the auditor鈥檚 office this summer already attended private schools prior to the program鈥檚 enactment.

As in other states, public reception has been mixed. Demand for the accounts has been greater than expected, with thousands of families using the subsidy to access educational alternatives. But residents of some rural communities, where private academies are often sparse, sometimes chafe at seeing funds allocated to schools located far from them.

Timothy Hagle, a political scientist at the University of Iowa, noted the disparity. In populous Johnson County, where the college town of Iowa City is based, parents have no trouble finding Catholic, charter, or homeschooling options if they are dissatisfied with traditional public schools.

鈥淏ut if you’re out in a much smaller county, you’re not going to have that opportunity,鈥� he added.

At the same time, some districts have increasingly faced straitened financial circumstances as both K鈥�12 enrollment and state revenues have trended downward. Iowa鈥檚 school funding design is somewhat more reliant on dollars from the state government than from localities, and direct aid to districts in recent years. Iowa鈥檚 Supplemental State Aid (essentially the year-over-year increase in K鈥�12 spending included in each new budget) often in the 1990s and 2000s; it has since 2011.

The shortfalls have led school systems around the state to , including in where schools are often the largest local employer. One local district recently opted to shutter to balance its books.

Taylor, a conservative who endorsed Lahn in the Republican primary, said he鈥檇 voted down a recent 2 percent increase in State Supplemental Aid because it was insufficiently generous. But he added that many of his co-partisans have lost faith in Iowa鈥檚 education system, attempting to and 鈥� in required teacher training.

鈥淸Funding] hasn’t stayed even in the ballpark of keeping up with increased costs that school districts are incurring,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut there’s a lot of skepticism or even hostility toward public schools among a lot of Republicans. It’s not my perspective, but it’s the perspective of a lot of them.鈥�

鈥榃iggle room鈥� on ESAs?

If Sand ultimately prevails, and seeks to pursue an ambitious program of K鈥�12 changes, it will entail either collaborating with those Republicans or going around them.

As governor, he could claim authority to interpret the ESA law liberally 鈥� perhaps by making administrative demands through the state鈥檚 education department requiring stricter eligibility screening for participating schools, stronger audits for the program, and more robust attempts at fraud recovery. Taylor said that a Democratic governor might find some 鈥渨iggle room,鈥� but that it would likely be limited.

Thus far, ESA systems have almost exclusively been implemented by the Republican lawmakers who created them. In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs spent much of her first term in office the state鈥檚 far-reaching program, proposing to allow access only to students who鈥檇 previously spent at least 100 days enrolled in a public school. Like Sand, Hobbs rhetorically to the state鈥檚 growing budget deficit. Yet those efforts were stymied by the GOP-led legislature, and a measure aiming to limit family eligibility based on income this year. 

Fiscal conditions might be even more difficult to change. Sand has said he would pursue a one-time 5 percent increase in state aid next year, a tall order given the budget deficit that has mounted in the last few years. His proposal for would almost certainly face a huge roadblock as well.

Complicating matters further is , a referendum that could dramatically change the state鈥檚 constitution. If passed, future legislatures would need to marshal a two-thirds majority to ever increase the income tax, closing one of the most obvious doors to possible future funding. 

While alternatives exist, such as raising sales or property taxes, Buckton observed that they would also be difficult to leverage. As it is, she added, the state has long provided less funding for each K鈥�12 student than the nation as a whole. Within the Midwest region, every other state besides deep-red Indiana and Kansas.

“There is no foreseeable way, if that amendment passes, that Iowa will ever be at the national average for per-pupil expenditures again,” she said.

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