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Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill restricting DEI in government entities sent to Gov. Reynolds to be signed into law
DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa House lawmakers advanced House File 856 in a vote along party lines on Tuesday morning. The bill would expand diversity, equity and inclusion measures passed last year. The bill restricts state, county and city government entities from spending money on DEI offices or employees. The bill was just amended in the Iowa Senate last week to take out the language of private colleges and universities as part of the restrictions. Republicans in both chambers held the belief that this will help return state agencies and universities to a merit-based system. House Republicans did take issue with the Iowa Senate removing the private college language. ARL sees rise in parvovirus cases in the community '…private colleges from the original bill. And it also changes the wording, clarifying that this is not about encouraging preferential treatment or special benefits,' said State Representative Henry Stone (R), District 9 from Forest City. Meanwhile, both Senate and House Democrats urged this expansion not be passed. One representative argued that this is how the state remains competitive. 'This is how we compete. Going into the future by holding down diversity, equity and inclusion in our state,' said State Representative Rob Johnson (D), District 34 from Des Moines. 'This isn't about checking boxes, this is about building bridges.' The bill, if signed into law, will take effect on July 1, 2025, meaning that cities and counties need to be looking at this change before passing a budget for the next fiscal year. Iowa News: Bill restricting DEI in government entities sent to Gov. Reynolds to be signed into law Caitlin Clark Foundation dishes another assist Iowa veteran battles through illness on Appalachian Trail journey WHO 13 Farm Report: Tuesday, May 13th Iowa's first Latina legislator sworn in to office Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Public schools must let private school students join their sports teams, Iowa bill says
Private school students would be allowed to participate in sports offered by public schools under a bill that passed the Iowa House Wednesday. Under the bill, public school districts would be required to allow private school students to participate in their sports programs if the student lives within the public school district's boundaries or that of a contiguous school district and if the private school has not offered that sport for at least the past two school years. Public schools would not be allowed to charge private school students a fee larger than what is paid by public school students. Many public school districts currently have such agreements with private schools, but Republicans said some districts have ended their agreements after they passed a law in 2023 providing families with taxpayer-funded education savings accounts to pay private school costs. "The impetus of this bill is not to show favoritism or to elevate nonpublic schools," said Rep. Henry Stone, R-Forest City, the bill's floor manager. "It's being brought about because school districts started severing longstanding athletic agreements with nonpublic schools once nonpublic schools entered their accreditation process or after we passed ESAs." Rep. Heather Matson, D-Ankeny, said the bill could create issues for school districts who may need to add staff or find more space for sports if new private school students begin joining their programs. "With every decision we must weigh the pros and the cons," she said. "With school choice and yes, with a voucher, a family may choose the private school. Sometimes that may mean you miss out on something the public school offers. You can't always get everything you want." Matson said the bill goes beyond the type of agreements public schools currently have with private schools by requiring districts to have agreements for students to join any public school sport, and by requiring agreements for nonpublic middle school students to join public school sports, not just high school students. "These agreements and how they are determined should stay with the local school district based on what they can offer and meets the needs of their students first," she said. Stone said no one is trying to take anything away from public schools. The bill's intention, he said, allows private school students "to be able to continue their athletic careers." "How many girls have to continue to forego their junior or senior season of soccer because of a severed athletic agreement?" he said. "How many boys won't be able to continue to play their senior season of football and possibly lose out on a scholarship opportunity because they can no longer play at the high school they were playing at for the past three years?" Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@ or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa bill may force public schools to let private students play sports
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iowa House Black Caucus responds to DEI legislation passed by House Republicans
DES MOINES, Iowa — On Tuesday, Iowa House Republicans passed three bills that take restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion in the state even further. Three bills passed: House File 269 that bans Iowa's public universities from requiring a course that has topics or instruction of items related to DEI or critical race theory; House File 401 that states required courses cannot include materials that teach identity politics, systemic racism, oppression or distort historical events; and House File 856 that bans DEI offices at all Iowa community and private colleges in the Iowa Tuition Grant. It also bans local governments and state agencies from spending money on DEI offices or staff. 'Almost half of surveyed college students agree that some speech can be so offensive in certain cases that it merits such harsh penalties or punishment, like the death penalty,' said State Representative Henry Stone (R) District 9 from Forest City. 'DEI ideology that is being taught to our kids and it is destroying, in my opinion, our country.' On Wednesday morning, the Iowa House Black Caucus wanted to respond to remarks made during debate and the bills that were passed on Tuesday. How to watch Iowa teams in NCAA basketball tournament 'The fact that diversity is the reason that there are accessible elevators in this building. It's the reason that we take the act of including and being inclusive of people. It's the reason why the Republicans put forward in the bill in support of service animals. That's inclusion,' said State Representative Ross Wilburn (D) District 50, from Ames. 'They chose to talk about race.' 'It didn't just happen. It came about because this was a solution to an issue and a problem that was facing, not just Iowa, but an issue that was facing us here in America, and so, dismantling that dismantles the progress Iowa has pushed for,' said State Representative Rob Johnson (D) District 34, from Des Moines. while referencing members of the 55th General Assembly where 90 plus House Republicans voted to move for equality and end segregation in schools before Brown v. Board of Education was taken up in the United States Supreme Court. Another member of the Black Caucus spoke about comments made about how its members did not reach out to any House Republicans during the last two months when these bills were moving through the process. 'I feel like there were comments made yesterday about the Black Legislative Caucus and how we are not reaching out to individuals on the other side of the aisle,' said State Representative Jerome Amos Jr. (D) District 62, from Waterloo. 'That is not correct. I call it political fodder, is what I call it. And for me, we reach out, we talk to folks. You have to understand that we are not communicating as much as we probably could. But also the other side was not reaching out to us. And I firmly believe that we have to, as a body, start communicating with each other.' Members of the caucus asked Iowans to reach out to their representatives and senators, republicans or democrats, to urge them not to advance these three bills. Also calling on the governor to not sign these bills into law if they make it out of the Iowa Senate chamber this session. Iowa News: Iowa House Black Caucus responds to DEI legislation passed by House Republicans How to watch Iowa teams in NCAA basketball tournament WHO 13 Farm Report: Wednesday, March 19th Fort Dodge police investigating death, apartment fire Attempted murder arrest in Ames shooting Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iowa House lawmakers clash over legislation restricting DEI at public, private colleges
Rep. Henry Stone, R-Forest City, spoke on legislation prohibiting funding for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in Iowa, alongside prohibiting DEI efforts at community colleges and private colleges participating in the Iowa Tuition Grant during floor debate in the Iowa House March 18, 2025. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch) When debating the first of many pieces of legislation targeting diversity, equity and inclusion Tuesday in the Iowa House, Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell said she's already heard from individuals and groups seeing the negative impacts of stripping away DEI at Iowa colleges and universities. An Iowa State University professor was asked to stop requiring students to watch a video on biochemist Percy Julian, an African American, Wessel-Kroeschell said. The teacher had used the story to get students thinking about how 'societal ideas impact scientific progress,' the Ames Democrat said. 'This bill and others that we will be discussing today take us 100 steps backwards,' Wessel-Kroeschell said. 'The diversity, equity, inclusion ban has already gone too far.' Advocates of the legislation argued DEI programs were divisive. 'A better name for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, in my opinion, would be adversity, inequity and exclusion, because that is what these programs do,' Rep. Steven Holt said. 'Indoctrinating young people to see everything through the prism of race is incredibly destructive — creating adversity between people, inequity for those who do not fit the narrative and exclusion for those who do not agree.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Members of the Iowa House of Representatives passed a number of bills aimed at DEI Tuesday evening, including amended legislation that would create a new center for intellectual freedom at the University of Iowa, as well as bills that would bar state entities, community colleges and private universities from maintaining DEI offices and positions and state university requirements for DEI-related education or participation in programming. House File 269 would prohibit public universities from requiring or incentivizing education in DEI or critical race theory-related content for students as a prerequisite for earning a degree, with exceptions, and also bars employees from being required or incentivized to participate in similar activities or programs. The House passed an amendment offered by Holt, R-Denison, floor manager of the bill, that he said was brought forward by the Iowa Board of Regents. It struck language in the legislation defining DEI and critical race theory-related content as connected to 'critical theory, systemic racism, institutional racism, anti-racism, microaggressions, systemic bias, implicit bias, unconscious bias, intersectionality, social justice, cultural competence, allyship, race-based reparations, race-based privilege, race or gender-based diversity, race or gender-based equity, or race or gender-based inclusion.' Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, introduced an amendment exempting health care students and providers seeking continuing education from the bill. She argued that medical students need to know how a patient's race, sex and other characteristics affect the prevalence of certain diseases. The amendment failed. Calling the legislation 'one of the most misrepresented bills' he's seen in his time as a lawmaker, Holt said DEI and critical race theory topics aren't being banned from instruction, but are rather being stopped from becoming a requirement to graduate. DEI programs seek to divide people, he said, and gave examples of teaching white people they are oppressors because they are white and people of color they are oppressed. The legislation passed 63-34. House Democrats joined Wessel-Kroeschell in opposing House File 269, as well as other DEI-focused legislation that passed out of the chamber. Rep. Mary Madison, D-West Des Moines, said during debate that, if passed, legislation to change academic teaching requirements, general education standards and more would essentially whitewash the lessons taught by Iowa universities. Referencing House File 295, which would prohibit higher education accrediting bodies from taking negative actions against state universities and community colleges for following, or refusing to violate, state law, Madison said the legislation will make Iowa colleges less competitive and 'potentially unaccredited, all while silencing discussion about race, gender and social structures that are fundamental to well rounded education.' 'These bills are not about improving education or governance,' Madison said. 'They are about censorship, exclusion and erasing important conversations that prepare students for the real world, real people.' House File 295 passed out of the House with a 65-32 vote. Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, introduced an amendment to House File 856 adding community and private colleges to the population of state entities and local government bodies that would be prohibited from spending any money, state-allocated or otherwise, on founding or funding diversity, equity and inclusion offices and hiring DEI officers. The amendment passed. The portion of the amendment referencing private universities would put their Iowa Tuition Grant eligibility on the line if they do not shutter their offices, similar to legislation currently on the House debate calendar. Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, said the legislation as amended would punish students for the actions of the institution they chose to attend by stripping away their Iowa Tuition Grant funding, which goes directly to the student, not the college. 'Why are we, the Legislature, punishing children and young people who want to go to college by telling them they can't pick a college that has a position that's different than yours?' Konfrst said. 'That is not fair and it is not right.' Rep. Henry Stone, R-Forest City, was floor manager of the bill and did not yield to questions from House Democrats, who took umbrage with what they described as an overly broad definition of DEI potential impacts on Iowa's students and local departments. His reasoning for this was that he said no one approached him with questions on the bill before it made it to the House floor. Echoing comments made throughout debate about how DEI divides rather than unites, Stone said what is taught through the acronym teaches people to judge based on what is on the surface, like skin color, and interact with them based on those characteristics, rather than getting to know them. 'Getting rid of DEI will help our nation heal and grow together with one another, instead of forcing people to believe that you should be judged by the color of your skin,' Stone said. The bill passed with a vote of 61-37. House File 401 would establish general education requirements for state universities and lays out criteria for subjects students must take to graduate, including English, math and statistics, natural and social sciences and western and American heritage. According to the bill, course content cannot 'distort significant historical events or include any curriculum or other material that teaches identity politics or is based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States of America or the state of Iowa.' Holt said the bill is 'fundamentally important' for teaching U.S. youth about the country's founding principles and where they came from, as well as helping them to improve in fundamental skills like English. 'If our country is to be fought for, those doing the fighting must know the precious principles that are at stake,' Holt said. The legislation passed 61-36. House File 437 would, as amended, establish a center for intellectual freedom at the University of Iowa and direct it to, in its own work and through collaborations with centers for civic education at Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa, offer a course on American history and civil government and programming on the topics of free speech and civil discourse, Collins said. A previous version of the bill would have the UI establish a school of intellectual freedom within its college of liberal arts and sciences. The legislation passed 60-37. Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, D-Hiawatha, said it's ironic that the chamber discussed intellectual freedom in the wake of trying to ban DEI and amidst the erasure of intellectual freedom across the country as a result of federal government actions. 'This bill is a farce,' Wichtendahl said. 'The center is a farce. This government is a farce.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
