The Daily Iowan WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2024
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA COMMUNITY SINCE 1868
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Isabella Tisdale | The Daily Iowan
A Regina Catholic Education Center class meets in a small group with their teacher on Sept. 3. Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs, have led to an increase in families enrolled in private schools.
A RACE TO THE TOP:
Public and private schools battling for enrollment
Iowa’s public schools have altered their approach to marketing. INSIDE
Grace Olson Assistant News Editor
grace.olson@dailyiowan.com
With the introduction of education savings accounts, or ESAs, more families in Iowa are choosing private education, causing Iowa’s public schools to expand marketing efforts in an attempt to keep families in their districts. In the past year, the Iowa City Community School District has undergone a complete reboot of its website to make it more attractive to parents and easier to navigate. Iowa City Community School District Superintendent Matt Degner said features like this make a big difference in this day and age to keep families interested. “Most places we consume our content these days are social media or in some way online, so we’ve also taken a big effort to reboot our website
ESA | 2A
$4 million combatting food insecurity The North Liberty Community Pantry is opening a new donation-funded facility. Bri Brands News Reporter
news@dailyiowan.com
A tale of two Iowa offenses Where the Iowa football offense looks promising at one moment, it resembles the past offense of others. SPORTS | 1B
A bar without alcohol: Novel or naive? Unimpaired, Iowa City’s only dry bar, closed after two years in January, unable to thrive in a culture that revolves around student binge drinking. 80 HOURS | 1C
ONLINE • The Iowa Board of Regents released its latest docket this week for the slated changes to Iowa’s three public universities. Check out our latest coverage of the regents meeting at dailyiowan.com. • Listen to the latest episodes of The Daily Iowan’s two podcasts, Above the Fold and Press Box Banter, where reporters cover the latest news and talk sports at dailyiowan.com.
As food insecurity rates continue to rise in the state of Iowa, so has the number of people needing food pantry services. In response, North Liberty Community Pantry officals are expanding their facilities. The $4 million project, funded by donations, is expected to break ground at the end of the month, with anticipated completion by the summer of 2025. The North Liberty Community Pantry has seen the number of people they serve rise recently. In just two years, the pantry has doubled the amount of food distributed, Ryan Bobst, the North Liberty Community Pantry executive director, said. He said clothing distribution has increased by around 500 percent and grocery deliveries by about 600 percent. Natoshia Askelson, an associate professor of community behavioral health in the University of Iowa College of Public Health, has specifically researched food security in the state of Iowa. Askelson said the state has a food insecurity rate of just over 10 percent, meaning one in nine people face hunger. As part of her research, Askelson works with the educational component of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, teaching children and families how to make the most of those benefits. A recent study by the National Council on Aging and the Urban Institute — which used census data from 2018 — showed Johnson County had the highest rate of older adults who were eligible for, but did not receive, SNAP benefits in Iowa.
Isabella Tisdale | The Daily Iowan
A North Liberty volunteer checks vegetables before the opening of the current North Liberty Food Pantry on Sept. 5. The pantry has recently seen a rise in the number of people they serve. Johnson County, in particular, struggles with higher food insecurity rates due to the large student body and large immigrant and refugee populations, Askelson said. “There aren’t a lot of great paying jobs in many
places in Iowa, so people are making minimum wage or a little above, which we know is not enough to cover basic needs,” Askelson said.
PANTRY | 3A
Iowa City fare-free transit could stay into 2030 Since Iowa City made public buses free, ridership has jumped over 50 percent. Evan Watson News Reporter
news@dailyiowan.com
For over a year, Iowa City has enjoyed free busing for all its residents — a decision that ramped up ridership and increased accessibility around town. Now, the city wants to continue that program while balancing new multi-million dollar projects for the transit department. The fare-free program has allowed 1.5 million rides in the last fiscal year. The program accommodates all 13 lines in the Iowa City area, which includes a network that runs to Coralville. Within a month of farefree transit, ridership rose by 50 percent, as reported by The Daily Iowan. The pilot program launched in August 2023 and is expected to continue until August 2025. However, Iowa City plans to keep it running
well past the original end date. Iowa City Transit Director Darian NagleGamm gave a presentation to the Iowa City City Council on Aug. 20 and said the fare-free program has been a whopping success. Iowa City City Councilor Andrew Dunn said the City Council supports increasing ridership and continuing the fare-free program. Nagle-Gamm also told the council about several improvements planned for the transit department in the coming years and how they are using different funding pools to maintain free busing for the city. The city is planning a new transit facility and an expanded fleet of electric buses. Additionally, the department wants to see 1.9 million rides, or trips, per year by 2030, Nagle-Gamm said in an interview with the DI. According to transit statistics presented to the council, the upgrades would mean an incre-
ase of approximately 60,000 rides per year until 2030. Bus ridership dropped substantially in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting American Rescue Plan relief funding Iowa City received helped address the costs of the transit plans. Nagle-Gamm said ridership has surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Federal funding, including a $23 million grant and pandemic relief money, has helped fund the fare-free program and will continue to do so for the next year. The increases in parking fares are one element expected to help cover the costs of fare-free once the allocated pandemic relief funding is expended. Approximately $40 million will be allotted to construct the new transit facility by no later than 2027. The current Public Works campus
TRANSIT | 3A