Republican candidates vying for the top spot in state government gave their plans to transform education on all levels for Iowa students during a gubernatorial debate Tuesday evening, claiming leftist indoctrination starts with teacher education before making its way into classrooms and parents need more control.

Hosted by conservative organization Moms for Liberty and moderated by the organization’s CEO Tina Descovich and WHO NewsRadio Host Simon Conway, the debate also touched on topics like Iowans’ health, the absence of one of the candidates, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, and more.

Candidates agreed that both education and higher education in Iowa need to be reformed, with eastern Iowa farmer and businessman saying the issue needs to be framed as a “generational fight for the institutions in our society.” He and other candidates pointed at “the left” as targeting education to indoctrinate children, something Lahn said they have been “tremendously successful” at.

Lahn is running on an “Iowa first” agenda, with a focus on education, border security and supporting farms. The Republican candidate has not held political office but worked previously for a Colorado state senator, Republican campaigns in Iowa and conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity.

“Public school is to promote civic virtue, to understand the principles of faith in our country and our culture, and that’s what it will be when I am governor,” Lahn said.

Brad Sherman, a Republican state representative from 2023-2025, businessman and faith leader, said the “concept of God” needs to be put back in schools, and putting the Ten Commandments in classrooms is a good place to start. God gave children to their parents and not the state, Sherman said, and parents should have complete control.

Sherman states on his campaign he is committed to “restoring adherence to the Constitution and restoring the foundational principles that made America a great nation and Iowa a great state.”

Parental rights were a focus for both Moms for Liberty and the candidates, with each candidate offering their support of parents deciding where and what their students learn. Rep. Eddie Andrews, R-Johnston, touted his authorship of parental rights legislation, which includes rights he said everyone agreed on until “three seconds ago.” Parents have the “fundamental right to raise their children in education,” he said.

Andrews also suggested doing away with the current common core education rules and restoring state-specific education standards, including adding phonics, where the association between spoken and written sounds is taught, to classrooms.

The five priorities listed on Andrews’s website include eliminating property taxes and combating inflation, parental rights in education, defending landowners and private property, championing mental health and health care freedom and protecting “life, liberty and traditional values.”

Former Iowa Department of Administrative Services director Adam Steen said during the debate funding of public schools isn’t the problem but ideology is, as well as the “downright evil” requirements being pushed on students.

“The line” for Steen was when his son’s teacher asked them to purchase a book titled “Jacob’s New Dress,” about a boy who begins to wear a dress to school. Teachers are sometimes forced to incorporate materials like these into classrooms, he said, adding he believes schools should instead teach real-world skills, vocational studies and industrial arts.

“I believe that this isn’t on the backs of teachers, it’s on the backs of those that are putting these standards upon our teachers and forcing it down our children’s throats,” Steen said.

Steen described himself at the launch for his gubernatorial run as “the faith guy,” as well as a “Make America Great Again guy.” The Republican resigned from his position in August in order to enter the race and states on his campaign he is pro-life, pro-Iowa, pro-property rights and pro-family.

Branching off from school choice for parents, Steen said schools should have a say in how teachers are trained. Universities should offer degree tracks in “classical education” for students, he said, and universities should not promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

Sherman suggested that teachers be given some form of test to ensure they can “do the job” while not needing to go through traditional university training.

Lahn said the value proposition of a college education is “decreasing precipitously,” with schools talking to students about postsecondary options other than attending a university.

Universities are “digging their own grave” while getting a lot of money from the state, and Lahn proposed overturning the Iowa Board of Regents and pulling funding from universities that refuse to stop teaching “woke indoctrination.” He said he would give the money instead to veteran support programs he pitched during the debate, such as trade schools and farm programs.

Iowa’s medical needs

Moderators also asked lawmakers about the medical issues facing Iowans, from to vaccine concerns.

Lahn, Sherman and Andrews all stated the need for additional, independent research on the causes of Iowa’s growing cancer rates in order to understand the problem fully and begin to identify solutions. Andrews mentioned $1 million in state funding provided to the University of Iowa for cancer research but said that didn’t include pediatric cancers, and said one suggestion to address that was to put in another $3 million.

Lahn laid the blame on agriculture companies who aren’t truthful about what their chemicals are doing to Iowans, and said he wouldn’t allow them to operate in Iowa unless they can show through research that their products are not harmful.

“It is the generational issue of our time, and we have to confront it head on,” Lahn said.

Steen refused to lay the blame on farmers, citing radon, plane deicer and golf courses as other areas that could be impacting cancer rates. He said this is a years-long issue to solve, and he wants to bring the experts to the table to solve it, no matter their political affiliation.

When asked about mRNA vaccines, Lahn, Sherman and Andrews all committed to banning them in the state, pointing back to issues during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Steen, who said his father got diabetes and cancer after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and later died, said he would consider a ban.

Feenstra criticized for skipping debate

Feenstra was invited to the debate but did not join, indicated by the empty podium Moms for Liberty placed on stage. Each of the candidates criticized his absence.

Billy Fuerst, campaign spokesman for Feenstra, said in an email the candidate flew into and out of  Iowa with President Trump on Air Force One, where they spoke about “how they can work together to take Iowa to new heights and keep Iowa red.”

“Congressman Feenstra is proud of his track record working with President Trump to pass the largest tax cuts for working families in U.S. history, get Sarah’s Law signed into law, and lower gas prices to their lowest levels in years,” Fuerst said in his email.

Steen said if Feenstra is the Republican nominee, Iowa would end up with Democrat Rob Sand as a governor and Iowa would be “toast.” Feenstra was in Iowa Tuesday, Andrews said, and the fact that he didn’t show up felt like he was disregarding Iowans.

“I’m not trying to cuss, but it’s like throwing a middle finger at all of you,” Andrews said. “He doesn’t care.”

Lahn said he doesn’t believe that Feenstra was too intimidated to come to the debate stage Tuesday — he’s instead following a method that says if you get enough establishment money, you get to skip everything else.

“Randy Feenstra has a lot of money, he has a lot of people behind him, but in Iowa, it doesn’t take that much money if you’re willing to work hard,” Sherman said.

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Gubernatorial candidates focusing on public schools is far from new.

But in the Iowa race for governor, both candidates have spent significant time on the campaign trail discussing their plans for the future of education in Iowa amid rising polarization on issues from vaccine and mask mandates to book bans and state funding.

While Gov. Kim Reynolds has not spent much time discussing her policy goals while campaigning for re-election, she has made education a top priority. In campaign speeches and ads, she highlights how her administration worked on reopening public schools which went to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Iowa schools went back to in-person learning earlier than many other states, when she signed an order in July 2020 requiring students to receive at least half of their schooling in classrooms. She signed legislation in 2021 requiring school districts to provide a full-time classroom option for parents who request it.

Parents having a larger say in their children’s schooling is a recurring theme in the governor’s campaign.

“We’re going to put parents back in charge of their children’s education,” for U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson in August.

Calls for ‘parental control’ in schools

Reynolds said it is “common sense” for parents to make decisions on masking and vaccination in schools. That idea extends beyond COVID-19 policies: She has also called for parents to have a greater say in how schools approach transgenders students.

The discussions in Iowa arose after Linn-Mar Community School District adopted a policy whereby transgender students can adopt a “gender support plan,” the district can require employees and other students use the individual’s preferred name and pronouns, and facilities will match students’ gender identity at school.

The policy states that students can decide whether their parents or guardians participate in the school’s “gender support plan meeting.”

The governor has as another reason Iowans should support her voucher proposal. Reynolds said in May that families need more choices in education, and those choices should not be limited if the parents can’t afford to transfer theri children to a private school.

“I think that’s one of the reasons I think parents need an option,” Reynolds said. “If they feel that their child is not being educated in a safe environment, or they feel that their values aren’t being represented at school, or they feel that the school district is not focused on a quality education.”

During a recent fundraiser, Reynolds highlighted legislation she which prohibits transgender girls and women from playing on women’s teams in most Iowa public schools and colleges.

“When we protected girls’ sports for girls, they called it discrimination,” she said. “The Iowa Democratic Party has lost sight of hard-working Iowans, and if elected, all of the things we’ve done over the last four years will go away.”

Michelle Veach, a Johnston parent, wore a shirt that stated “we do not co-parent with the government” to a Reynolds fundraiser earlier this month. She said one of the major reasons she supports the governor is because some of the material taught or available in public schools is inappropriate for children.

As a parent of children in Johnston public schools, Veach has where she read excerpts of the books “The Hate U Give” and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” books which are in the high school English class curriculum. Reynolds took their concerns seriously when she and other parents visited the Iowa State Capitol to discuss the books and other inappropriate content in schools, she said.

“She has listened to parents and worked with us whenever possible,” Veach said. “We want to be the authority with our kids education, our schools work for us. And we’ve lost that in our culture.”

Democrats call for more funding

Reynolds has highlighted issues like remote learning as a major problem in Iowa public schools. But her opponent, Democrat Deidre DeJear, says the problem is insufficient funding.

On the campaign trail, DeJear and other Iowa Democrats have repeatedly pledged to bring Iowa back to its position as a top state for education, an accolade that has slipped in recent years. In the most recent , Iowa placed 18th.

“We know as Iowans that’s not where we belong and that’s not what our children deserve,” DeJear

The decline, she said, is due to state government’s failure to match education funding increases with rising inflation. The state legislature approved a this year, which Democrats say meets neither the pace of inflation, or makes up for underfunding in previous years. She she supports appropriating $300 million from Iowa’s budget surplus so that it can be used for education and compensate for the funding deficits.

Iowa’s public universities are also facing funding shortages. The Iowa Board of Regents at Iowa’s three public universities by more than $300 this year, as the state legislature only approved a $5.5 million increase in general aid while the schools requested $15 million after facing a $7 million cut in 2020. Student activists have said the tuition increases could prevent some Iowans from attending college.

The governor discussed college costs on the campaign trail as well, as she rallied against President Joe Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness program. Reynolds and Republican attorneys general in five other states challenging the Department of Education’s authority to forgive student loans.

Taking on the costs of higher education is a personal choice, Reynolds said, and the program would force taxpayers to take on that burden.

“By forcing them to pay for other people’s loans – regardless of income – President Biden’s mass debt cancellation punishes these Americans and belittles the path they chose,” Reynolds said in a statement about the lawsuit.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on and .