School choice is booming in Iowa. Are students better off?

Principal Condra Allred visits a third grade class at Cleveland Elementary School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in April. Soon, Allred expects to hear for certain if her school will close. Cliff Jette for NPR

Cliff Jette for NPR

On an unseasonably warm February morning, Principal Condra Allred walked the hallways of Cleveland Elementary School’s 76-year-old building wearing a pink fanny pack slung over one shoulder like a bandolier. Inside the pack, a walkie-talkie squawked with