Governor Visit
As mentioned in last week's newsletter, the Governor accepted the invitation to visit our rural area to have a Round Table with area superintendents about the proposed Area Education Association changes. Governor Reynolds traveled to Algona and met with several superintendents. Senator Guth joined us. It was a quick drive south for a second Round Table with several other superintendents. Representatives Shannon Latham and Ann Meyer were able to join me in the Governor's panel in Webster City. The discussion was well-received by all. The new House bill is described below.
House Bill to Improve Special Education Outcomes (AEA)
This session we started with Area Education Association (AEA) and the initial proposal was not accepted by the house. The House started from scratch and listened to many parents, teachers, superintendents, AEA employees, AEA chiefs and the Department of Education. The House passed their own bill to improve special education outcomes by making improvements to our AEA system. The current system is about 50 years old and has never seen a comprehensive review.
Let’s start with what this bill does NOT do:
—There will be no disruption to special education services.
—This bill does not terminate any employees of the AEA’s.
—This bill does not prohibit the AEA's ability to perform any of the services they do now.
The items Iowans requested have been initiated or planned.
- Timeline pushed back—there is an implementation process over several years
- Create a task force to continue to make AEA better
- Bring back operational sharing
- Lower Department of Education Full-time employees FTE's (they are cut in half)
The Senate will craft their own bill, so considerable negotiations will take place before any final bill goes to the Governor for signature. I don't dare predict what it might look like in its final form, but I was pleased with the changes the House Education Committee made to the original proposal in January, including the preservation of Special Education Services and Media Services among others.
House File 2544 implements new history and civics standards after a study found Iowa’s failing civics and history standards
The suggested American history and civics standards will have an emphasis on the Constitution of the United States, with emphasis on the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of Iowa and their original intent. The basic principles of the United States’ constitutional republic form of government. A comparison of the United States’ form of government with different forms of government including dictatorship, monarchy, oligarchy, theocracy, communism, and autocracy. The structure, function, and processes of government institutions at the federal, state, and local levels. Civic virtues exemplified in the lives of famous Americans such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Abraham Lincoln as suggested material.
The basic political, diplomatic, and military history of America, which shall include the period of discovery, early colonies, the War for Independence, the Civil War, the expansion of the United States to its present boundaries, the World Wars, the Cold War, the Civil Rights movement, and the September 11 attacks to the present. Specific information on the Holocaust and the crimes against humanity committed by communist regimes throughout history will be included.
In the higher grades, substantial primary source instruction such as the Mayflower Compact, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers (including but not limited to Essays 10 and 51), the Emancipation Proclamation, and the writings of the Founding Fathers of the United States will be covered.
Any curriculum on economics will include an emphasis on the free enterprise system and its benefits. It shall include material on the failures of the communist economic system and the differences between capitalist and communist economic systems.
I spoke in support of this bill on the floor Wednesday evening. It is said that "those who fail to study history are bound to repeat it." We see that phrase demonstrated nearly every day.
Religious Freedom Restoration Act
House File 2454
- This bill prohibits state, county, or city action from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion unless there is a compelling government interest.
- RFRA simply guarantees that everyone gets a fair day in court when the government attempts to intrude on their freedom of religion.
- This bill doesn’t create a new rule. RFRA is already law at the federal level. It would just apply this standard to state government in Iowa. Twenty-five states already have RFRA at the state level. That includes red, blue and purple states.
During debate in the House, we heard many hypotheticals and incorrectly cited court cases, that would not apply to RFRA. Opponents claimed that this bill would allow legal discrimination, but that is simply not the case. This standard already exists in many other states and has not been used to allow discrimination.
Improving School Safety
House Republicans have been meeting with school administrators, law enforcement, and teachers to develop legislative solutions that will make our students and staff safer at school. This week we passed HF 2586, which focuses on personnel being able and ready to protect students in the event of an emergency. Here’s what it does:
—Schools with enrollment over 8,000 shall employ at least one school resource officer or private security officer. Schools can opt out of this requirement with a vote of their school board. A grant program is created to help schools pay for these positions.
—Creates a new permit that allows a school employee to carry weapons on school properties and receive qualified immunity if they meet the high standards in this bill.
Let’s dig into the details of this new professional permit.
Currently, Iowa code 724.4B allows schools to authorize their employees to carry on school property. This bill creates a new professional permit and sets an extensive standard of training that school employees must complete with recertification more frequently than most police officers.
School districts are not required to participate. However, in subcommittee we heard from many superintendents eager to take part in a program like this.
No teacher or school employee is required to take this training – it is entirely voluntary.
To be issued one of these professional permits, a school employee must undergo extensive training. This includes legal training on qualified immunity, annual emergency medical training, annual communication training, annual live scenario training, quarterly live-fire training, and passing an annual background check.
This sets a high standard. Because we are talking about the safety of our children, the bar must be high. I asked specific questions about weapons training. I was convinced, based on my own experience, the training is what school employees need if they choose to take the training. We recognize that this responsibility must be taken very seriously. The House has additional ideas that we will vote on this session, from addressing children’s mental health to additional funding for infrastructure. Even with the best attempts at prevention, the reality is that bad things can still happen. This bill will ensure more people in our school buildings are prepared to respond in an emergency.
HF 2617 has been termed "Meet Baby Olivia" because it visually describes the fetal development of a human from conception to birth. The button below is a short video depicting the health curriculum to be provided in school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and innovation zone schools to students enrolled in grades seven through twelve. Video technology today makes it possible to view and recreate fetal development. Planned Parenthood objected to the addition of this instruction in schools during the subcommittee, stating it as inappropriate material for children. The video is not inappropriate in any way and can be found on YouTube.
This past week of being approximately halfway through the session, was filled with many hours in discussions and many more hours debating bills on the floor. The House passed 61 pieces of legislation. This coming week will likely be just as busy and productive.
