(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Education has introduced the Returning Education to the States Waiver, granting states greater flexibility in using federal funding.
Iowa is the first state to receive approval for the waiver.
The department claims that the waiver is flexible and will reduce compliance costs, allowing almost $8 million to be redirected from bureaucratic red tape to the classroom over four years.
Iowa is the first state in the nation to receive federal approval to redirect federal resources from compliance to the classroom in its innovative Unified Allocation Plan.
State funds from several Elementary and Secondary Education Act programs are combined into a single block grant of about $3.8 million for 2024 and 2025, allowing the state to support statewide professional learning, including literacy and instruction for English learners, at no cost to schools.
State education leaders plan to use the redirected funds to expand support for literacy training, strengthen their teacher pipeline and narrow achievement gaps.
This will allow Iowa’s reporting requirement to reduce administrative work and provide flexibility that supports innovative solutions that focus on classroom instruction for students while ensuring transparency and accountability.
“We are grateful to each of the administrators, teachers, and Iowans whose experience and expertise shaped Iowa’s innovative Unified Allocation Plan, which reflects our collective focus on accountability for student outcomes,” Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow said. “Alongside them and the U.S. Department of Education, we look forward to continuing our work to refocus federal resources on their true purpose-the success of all learners.”
The Department of Education confirmed in an email to The Center Square that it is currently working with six other states on waiver requests.
Since the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress results, the administration has taken strides to improve student outcomes in math and reading scores.
The waiver is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and shift greater control to the states.
“Granting Iowa’s waiver illustrates the Trump Administration’s commitment to returning education to the states by empowering state leaders, who know their students far better than bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., to have more discretion over federal education dollars,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.