FACT CHECK: Zach Lahn Wants to Gut Funding for Iowa’s Public Schools
SIOUX CITY – Kansas carpetbagger and career political operative Zach Lahn is desperately trying to rewrite his dangerous record of attacking Iowa public schools and teachers while ignoring the fact that his private school in Kansas — which he still works as the president of while running for governor two states away — is millions of dollars in debt.
Lahn’s unaccredited Wonder School in Kansas, which he touted as “the model for reinventing education” in Iowa, is a whopping $4.5 million in debt, underpays teachers, and rejects students with disabilities.
Here’s what you need to know about Lahn’s attacks on public schools and teachers:
- Lahn doesn’t know when Iowa schools start, and during the KWQC debate, he proved that he doesn’t know about Iowa’s open enrollment system or Area Education Agencies.
- Lahn claims Iowa “is spending too much money on education,” said he is “all for ESAs,” and wants to expand the school voucher program to include homeschooling — leaving the door open to even more public school funding cuts.
- Lahn called his Kansas school “the model for reinventing education” in Iowa, even though it’s millions of dollars in debt, underpays teachers, and turns away students with disabilities.
- Lahn said the question of Iowa private schools accepting students with disabilities is “the wrong debate to be having.”
- Lahn has attacked Iowa teachers as “evil” and “sinister” and promised to “revoke the licenses of teachers seen as indoctrinating students,” but used his Kansas school to push far-right political ideologies from controversial figures like Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson onto kids.
- Lahn bad-mouthed Iowa public schools, including his alma mater, to promote his Kansas school to prospective parents — undermining his claim to be “the number one advocate for Iowa’s public school kids.”
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