Latest news with #IowaSenateEducationCommittee
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iowa Senate Education Committee moves several bills ahead of funnel deadline
The Iowa Senate Education Committee moved ahead a number of bills focused on K-12 and higher education Thursday. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch) The Iowa Senate Education Committee advanced a number of bills impacting both K-12 and higher education on Thursday, ensuring they will remain active as the session's second funnel deadline looms. Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, said during the committee meeting the group will have one more meeting early next week, but will focus on appointments instead of policy. The first bill discussed during committee, and one of the most contested of the day, was House File 884, which would allow public and nonpublic school districts to bring in a chaplain to work with students. It states in the legislation that schools cannot 'require or coerce a student to utilize' chaplains' services and bars chaplains from being used as guidance counselors. An amendment from Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, to prohibit chaplains from proselytizing on school grounds, failed. Sen. Mike Pike, R-Des Moines, floor manager for the bill, submitted an amendment to require chaplains be mandatory reporters and 'have a certification from a nationally recognized school Chaplain professional credentializing organization,' he said, which passed. Senate democrats voiced concerns about the amendment limiting who would be allowed to work with a district as a chaplain, with Trone Garriott saying the only organization providing the necessary credentials is a Christian advocacy group that would not allow those who don't follow its goals to receive credentials. 'State sanctioned Christian indoctrination,' said Sen. Sen. Molly Donahue, D-Cedar Rapids. 'That's what this is about.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Once passed, the bill as a whole also caused worries for Trone Garriott and others. She said being a chaplain is hard work that is not for everyone, and this legislation would allow 'untrained, unvetted, unsupervised individuals' into their children's schools and gives them a title and authority. 'It is a groomer's dream to have access to our children this way, to have this authority, and then to be able to come in and operate with no guidance and no guidelines and no oversight,' Trone Garriott said. Pike said the bill would give control back to local school districts, and to the communities within them, to decide for themselves whether they'd like to have a chaplain working with students. 'If the parents and the district chooses not to be involved with the chaplains, then they're not going to be,' Pike said. 'But if the district chooses so, then they will, with the agreement of the parents. The parents always have a say in their school board.' House File 785 would modify rules for charter school boards to allow no more than one board member to reside outside of Iowa, but would require that all members be U.S. citizens. Sens. Mike Zimmer and Herman Quirmbach expressed concerns that allowing people living outside of the state could take control away from the people who utilize the school. 'I do believe that one individual from outside of the state sitting on that board could have an undue influence,' Zimmer said. Sen. Jesse Green, R-Boone, said in closing comments the legislation will be useful to the charter schools located close to Iowa's borders. There are no such constraints in place for nonprofit boards, he added, calling into question why school boards should need one. 'There's only three states right now that have restrictions on board memberships, and so we're pretty unique in that we're requiring only in-state board memberships,' Green said. The committee moved the legislation ahead with a vote of 11 to 5. House File 189 would set requirements for public school districts with nonpublic school students wishing to participate in extracurricular athletics. Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, said it would require school districts to allow students living in the district but attending a nonpublic school to participate in athletics provided by the district but not the nonpublic school in the past two years. Trone Garriott called the legislation a 'one-way bill,' as it does not allow students from public schools to join sports only offered by the nonpublic school in the district. 'It's really inappropriate that even though we're funding both school systems, only one student gets to pick and choose from all of the available opportunities while our public school students are shut out,' Trone Garriott said. 'This is inherently unfair.' The legislation passed with an 11-5 vote. Four pieces of legislation were passed unanimously during the committee meeting, aimed at making those allowed to direct students with concussions to sit out of activities and school district budgets more flexible. House File 471 would add those with a doctorate in psychology and specialized training in concussion management or neuropsychology to the category of licensed health professionals who can direct a student to be removed from an extracurricular activity due to showing signs or symptoms of a concussion or brain injury. House File 579 would allow the modified supplemental amount ratio school districts can levy for dropout prevention programs to go up to 5%, Sen. Tom Shipley, R-Nodaway, said, if approved at an election. It cannot increase by more than .5% every fiscal year. House File 316 would make changes to career education and exploration in K-12 schools, Evans said, including expanding career planning curriculum to fifth and sixth grades and adding additional criteria for career education in seventh and eighth grades. The bill would also have the Iowa Department of Education form a list of industry recognized credentials, create a seal and provide it to schools to add onto student transcripts and other documents if they have earned a credential before graduating. House File 315 would make school districts impacted by a natural disaster eligible for an additional year of budget guarantees, Evans said. No districts would have need of this adjustment the majority of the time, he said, but it would help those who have. Sen. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, said the bill needs to move forward and urged its adoption. A similar version of the House bill, Senate File 64, has been assigned a subcommittee in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. House File 295 would prohibit higher education accrediting bodies from taking negative actions against state universities and community colleges for following, or refusing to violate, state law, like eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programming that an accreditor may require. If an accreditor does take an action against an Iowa university, the institution can seek authorization from the Iowa attorney general to file a civil suit against the body. Winckler and Quirmbach pointed out the removal of any mention of the Higher Learning Commission, an accrediting body they said provides accreditation to 51 colleges and universities in Iowa, from the legislation, and said taking it out allows for universities to use lower-quality accreditors. 'I can't support the bill. I think it dumbs down our higher education system,' Winckler said. 'I think that with the possible elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, it puts us and any of our higher learning institutions in a very precarious situation.' Sen. Kerry Gruenhagen, R-Walcott, agreed with Winckler that accreditation is important, and added that this bill will protect it. Names in the bill aren't important, he said, as new accreditors may come down the line later on. It passed 11-5 and will head to the Senate calendar for debate. House File 401 would set new general education requirements for Iowa's public universities, mandating a certain number of credit hours be taken in English, math and statistics, American and western heritage, natural and social sciences and the humanities. While the bill states instructors' academic freedoms and the freedom to discuss ideas in the classroom will not be infringed upon, it also states general education courses 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.' Lawmakers said in a subcommittee meeting Wednesday they anticipate amendments will need to be added to the legislation. Quirmbach said universities are perfectly able to set their own standards for general education, and the Legislature would probably do a much worse job at it. Echoing comments he made in the subcommittee meeting, he said including 'identity politics' without a definition would throw educators into 'complete chaos.' He would also like to know what is expected to be excluded from education due to the section about systemic oppression, bringing up slavery and its inclusion in the Constitution as an example. 'Our history is one of institutions that have supported sexism and racism, oppression and privilege, and if we are going to require a course on American heritage, we cannot, we cannot, honestly avoid those topics,' Quirmbach said. If the argument from the subcommittee persists that the language is in the present rather than the past tense, Quirmbach said it could then bar instructors from speaking about the Legislature removing transgender protections from Iowa Civil Rights code this session. Sen. Jeff Taylor, R-Sioux Center, provided his own definition of 'identity politics' — 'identity politics politicizes certain demographic traits, thereby defining people by their sex, race, sexual orientation and so on, and prioritizing public policy issues on that basis.' While there were systems of sexism, racism and oppression in the U.S. 200 years ago, Taylor said that is not the case today and that is why it is barred in the bill. 'I'm not saying that there isn't racism, that there isn't sexism, that there isn't oppression or privilege — all of those things still exist, but they are not institutionalized,' Taylor said. The bill passed with an 11-5 vote. House File 440 would direct the state higher education system to study the pros and cons of implementing a tuition freeze for first-year students so they won't see increases during their first four years of study, as well as set tuition prices for the upcoming year by April 30. Universities would also be required to develop three-year baccalaureate degree programs and work study programs for students working part-time while attending classes paid for by their employer. An amendment introduced by Quirmbach to provide an exception to the April 30 deadline if the Legislature has not yet approved higher education appropriations failed to pass. Green thanked Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, for his work on the bill in his closing comments, and it moved ahead to the Senate calendar. House File 856 would bar state entities from spending any money, from public funding or otherwise, on opening or maintaining DEI offices or officers. Community colleges are included in the legislation as well as private universities, who would risk Iowa Tuition Grant ineligibility if they do not comply. Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, introduced an amendment to strike the division dealing with private universities from the legislation, which passed unanimously. Quirmbach and Zimmer reiterated concerns during the meeting they expressed on the Senate Floor during debate on Senate File 507. Zimmer said the use of the word 'promote' could bar local and state government departments from encouraging good initiatives aimed at getting more women into male-dominated fields, and Quirmbach said entities could potentially be stopped from celebrating Black History Month and other established events. 'This bill, more than anything else I think, suppresses freedom of free speech, it suppresses freedom of opinion…,' Quirmbach said. 'It's one of the saddest pieces of legislation I've seen coming along.' Rozenboom said this legislation is in line with others considered last session, and it 'addresses a problem that needs to be addressed.' While the definition of DEI in the bill is a wide-ranging one, and one he said that is 'what you make of it,' but added it is well thought-out and gets to the core of the issue he sees. 'It is not the proper place of a state entity to promote ideologies and opinions as their official role,' Rozenboom said. The legislation passed with an 11-5 vote. 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Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Expanded childcare bill causing childcare providers concern
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Senate Education Committee introduced a bill aimed at extending childcare programs at schools. Senator Lynn Evans (R) District 3, of the Senate Education Committee, said that the bill will allow half day preschool programs to offer access to daycare for their students. 'The bill is getting at a specific problem, which is we offer a statewide voluntary preschool program. But oftentimes those are part day programs but not full day programs.' Senator Evans said. 'The exciting part of it is grants for a pilot program that where a community provider or a school district could offer a preschool program that's under the statewide voluntary preschool requirements and offer wraparound childcare.' The wrap around care grants would be funded through braided funding which means funding from other programs would be used. Iowa blizzard leads to crashes, delays for travelers Suzanne Zutter, the Executive Director of Families Forward, a non profit child care provider in Des Moines, said if the bill passes she will lose grant money required to hire staff. 'We've been funded $35,000 a year and it's strictly for wages to help supplement so that we can pay our childcare providers a decent living wage. If this bill goes through, we were told that that 35,000 will be cut,' Zutter said. Senator Evans said the governor, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Education have assured him that funding for existing grants will stay the same. 'I've had extensive conversations with the Department of Health and Human Services, the governor's office, and the Department of Education, and I've been assured that those that there will be grant funding available for those existing programs,' Senator Evans said. The Iowa House of Representatives have also introduced a similar bill. Iowa News: Expanded childcare bill causing childcare providers concern Iowa blizzard leads to crashes, delays for travelers Iowa bill would prohibit vaccines unless manufacturer waives liability protections WHO 13 Car Cam: Wednesday afternoon road conditions after Iowa blizzard 4 charged for allegedly kidnapping, robbing Iowa man Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate panel passes bills on Bible studies and a school of ‘intellectual freedom'
Bills passed out of the Iowa Senate Education Committee Tuesday would set guidelines for academic programs and change how child abuse in schools is investigated. (Photo via Getty Images) The Iowa Senate Education Committee passed a number of bills aimed at both primary and higher education during its Tuesday meeting, only a couple of days out from the first funnel deadline of the session. A few bills focused on child abuse in schools will move ahead with unanimous support from lawmakers, while perspectives clashed on proposed education programs on intellectual diversity and the study of the Christian Bible. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Senate File 127 would require the University of Iowa to establish a 'school of intellectual freedom' in its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which would focus on 'the historical ideas, traditions and texts that have shaped the American constitutional order and society,' according to the bill, as well as free speech, civil discourse and intellectual diversity. Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, had a number of issues with the legislation, including its potential to restrict intellectual freedom rather than promote it and the fact that it is an unfunded mandate that would have universities incur large annual costs. Its companion bill passed out of the House Higher Education Committee in February, with a fiscal note added March 4 detailing costs of forming and maintaining the school. Staffing costs, including a dean, five tenure-eligible faculty members and two administrative staff members, are expected to amount to about $1.45 million annually, according to the analysis from nonpartisan legislative staff, with an additional $50,000 needed each year for programming expenses. Quirmbach pointed out that the legislation states appropriated or donated funds cannot be used for indirect costs, like cleaning services and other expenses, which could drive that annual $1.5 million up even more. 'I think that we're seeing here a proposal for a school of intellectual freedom, which, in its authorization here, defeats intellectual freedom …,' Quirmbach said. 'It seems to be unnecessary because of these already existing statutory guarantees of intellectual freedom, it's an unfunded mandate, the personnel reviews for tenure are not consistent with standard practice. And aside from that, it's a great idea — not.' The bill was moved onto the debate calendar with an 11-5 vote. Senate File 138 would establish guidelines for school districts to offer an elective course on the Bible for grades 9-12, with approval from a district's school board required for such a course to be established. According to the bill, these courses 'shall not endorse, favor, promote, or disfavor, or be hostile toward, any particular religion, faith, or nonreligious perspective.' Sen. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, said when introducing the bill that all religious views of participating students must be respected in class. Echoing comments she made during the bill's subcommittee meeting, Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said schools are already allowed to have elective courses on different religions and making this bill a law would be unnecessary and unconstitutional, as it promotes the teaching of one religion over another. Though he said he supports the teaching of the Bible as it has had an enormous impact on history and culture, Quirmbach said other religions like Islam and Hinduism have also made significant influences on American life. When he asked whether Salmon would be amenable to adding amendments to give guidelines on the teaching of the Quran and Hindu texts, she replied that schools already have the ability to offer classes on these subjects, but other religious texts haven't had the 'deep impact on our society, on our nation, that the Bible has had.' 'So to have a bill here that promotes reading of the Bible, which I support, but where there would be resistance to providing similar recognition to Islam, to Hinduism, to all of the other great world religions, all of which add to the knowledge and wisdom of humanity, that then is going to be a violation of the First Amendment,' Quirmbach said. The bill passed 11-5 in the committee. Senate Study Bill 1075 would change data reporting requirements for Iowa community colleges to have them report information directly to the Iowa Department of Education rather than the state community colleges bureau. It would also have colleges provide individual-level data to the department, and the Department of Education would need to include information on 'program level educational and employment outcomes' in its annual Condition of Community Colleges report, according to the legislation. The legislation would also direct the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to work with the Department of Education and form an annual compensation schedule and set employee benefits for all employees of the Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Iowa School for the Deaf. Sen. Jeff Taylor, R-Sioux Center, introduced an amendment to exempt non-credit and continuing education instructors from code defining how community college teachers are subject to teacher contract continuation, termination, and discharge laws. These policies are also not applicable to adjunct instructors, he said. Both the amendment and bill passed unanimously and without discussion. Senate File 237 would have the Iowa Department of Education form a working group focused on the impacts of school-provided technology, including computers, class slideshow presentations and online learning management systems, on students' cognitive function and academic performances. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services will work with the Department of Education for this working group, according to the bill. If passed, the group would submit a report to the General Assembly by Dec. 31 on their findings and recommendations for best practices in mitigating negative effects of school provided technology on 'social and behavioral development, attention span, mental concentration and learning ability of students,' according to the bill. Sen. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, voiced her support for the bill, saying parents could potentially learn from the work group as well as educators and bring some new practices into the home. 'I think that we are only touching the tip of the iceberg as we talk about our schools and the use of technology,' Winckler said. 'Certainly, there is a lot of technology used outside of school, but we really don't have control of that.' An amendment brought forward by Taylor would require that the working group include parents of school-aged children, mental health professionals and educators. It, as well as the full bill, passed unanimously. Taylor said he introduced this legislation in part in response to a bill proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds that would set a statewide cellphone policy in schools. 'Student-used laptops and online learning platforms and PowerPoint presentations in the classroom, those can be wonderful in many ways, and there's lots of benefits and advantages to using those, but there are also some drawbacks to that as well, and I think it would be useful to know what those are,' Taylor said. Salmon said Senate File 221 would move the responsibility of investigating alleged child abuse cases at school from the school where it occurred to the Department of Health and Human Services. When a report of child abuse is brought forward, the school would need to notify the department and place the employee who allegedly committed the abuse on administrative leave. If found to have committed child abuse, the employee would have their license revoked by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners and be fired by the school. Lawmakers expressed concerns that the Department of Health and Human Services does not have the capacity to handle alleged child abuse cases for school districts across the state. Sen. Mike Zimmer, D-DeWitt, said he would like to see an amendment where a level one investigator is brought in from another school district to handle the case in order to remove the appearance of a conflict of interest while avoiding putting undue burden on the department. He said level two investigators, or those from an outside agency hired by the school, could also be utilized. Salmon said Iowa would be following a number of other states by enacting this policy, and it would also serve to provide more transparency and objectivity to the investigation. Winckler said during discussion of another bill relating to child abuse in schools that the two pieces of legislation contradict one another, and both cannot be passed. Senate File 366 would require all Iowa schools to immediately place employees on administrative leave if they are involved in a Iowa Board of Educational Examiners case involving the abuse of a child with probable cause, or if they were 'involved in any criminal or civil action in which a court found that the employee was negligent' while employed by the school, according to the bill. 'It is important that administrative leaves occur. It is important that abuse is taken seriously and actions are taken immediately,' Winckler said. 'But it seems like we have two different ideas in regard to how things would progress, and we just need to work those out before they come to the floor. We can't pass both of them.' With unanimous votes, both bills will move to the Senate floor for debate. Called 'Erin's Law' by Taylor, Senate File 172 would require the head of the Iowa Department of Education to develop guidelines on how schools can teach students in kindergarten through sixth grade about child sexual abuse with the goal of prevention and increasing awareness. Schools would be required to offer instruction based on these guidelines, according to the legislation. Students would be educated on how to identify safe-versus-unsafe touches and secrets, Taylor said, and how to escape an abuser and report what occurred. Iowa is one of 12 states that have not passed a version of Erin's Law, Taylor said, and he hopes that the state will stop lagging behind in providing students with necessary and important education that could keep them safe. Trone Garriott said it is 'incredibly important' to help students understand sexual abuse and teach them how to ask for help, as child sexual abuse is a prevalent problem that is often done by people they know. There is a lot of misinformation out there about child sexual abuse and its perpetrators, something she said the Legislature contributes to, with 'the idea that it's some certain group or some certain population that's doing this.' 'Knowledge is power, and knowledge protects our children, and so having accurate information, correct terms for body parts, understanding of what's appropriate and healthy and what is not safe, is incredibly powerful for these young people,' Trone Garriott said. An amendment introduced by Taylor and passed by the committee would include an opt-out option for parents who don't wish for their child to participate in these lessons. The bill will move to Senate debate after a unanimous vote from the committee. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iowa schools could start before Iowa State Fair has ended under new bill
DES MOINES, Iowa — A bill that would allow Iowa schools to start before the Iowa State Fair has ended was advanced through committee on Tuesday. The Iowa Senate Education Committee advanced SF 205, which allows both public and private schools in the state to start earlier. The bill states school calendars can begin as early as the second to last Monday of August and no later than the first Monday of December. That means there would be years where school starts before the Iowa State Fair has ended. In 2015 then Governor Terry Branstad signed a bill into law that prohibited schools from starting before the state fair had ended, no sooner than August 23. Fong's Pizza moving out of downtown Des Moines after 16 years Iowa State Education Association President Joshua Brown said the association is for the bill as it allows school districts to decide the best start date for them. 'As proponents of local control, the Iowa State Education Association believes Iowa school districts should have the flexibility to align with their local community's needs. Our local school districts can thoughtfully evaluate these factors and choose a start date that best supports their students' success and the community's overall needs,' Brown said. Multiple other school associations, as well as the Professional Educators of Iowa are for the bill. Adventureland, the Iowa Travel Industry Partners, and Okoboji Tourism are all against the bill, while the Iowa State Fair remains undecided. The bill was unanimously passed through the Education Committee. It's now eligible for debate on the Senate floor. Iowa News: Iowa schools could start before Iowa State Fair has ended under new bill WHO 13 Farm Report: Wednesday, February 5th Icy conditions are making it slippery in Iowa Newton student made threats to bring gun to school, police say Extra snow machines prove a success at Seven Oaks as they stayed open during warm week Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
