Capitol Update - March 30, 2023

UEN Legislative Update
March 30, 2023

Download the Printer-Friendly UEN Weekly Report from 03/30/2023

This UEN Weekly Report from the 2023 Legislative Session includes:

• Second Funnel Deadline
• Big House Changes to SF 496 Governor’s Transparency and Parents’ Rights
• Committee Action: House and Senate Education Committees Move Bills Forward
• Teacher Shortage and Hiring Flexibility Bill Status
• Other Bills that Survive the Funnel
• Significant Bills Awaiting Action
• Funnel Status
• Advocacy Action
• Links to Advocacy Resources
• Members of Important Committees

 

Second Funnel Deadline:

March 31 is the funnel deadline by which House bills must be approved by a Senate Committee and vice versa in order to receive further consideration. Although we refer to bills that do not clear this hurdle as “dead’, they can reappear as amendments or become part of an appropriations or leadership bill, so we must continue vigilant attention through the closing month(s) of the 2023 Session. The next important deadline is April 28, when legislative per diem runs out. Legislators like to finish up by that time, although they can and often do run over.

 

Big House Changes to SF 496 Governor’s Transparency and Parents' Rights:

SF 496 Governor’s Transparency/Parents’ Rights: Rep. Wheeler, Chair, introduced an overhaul amendment to the bill in the House Education Committee on Thursday, which made changes to the Senate’s version plus added the contents of several other House bills to the package:

• Division I: School Board Duties and Responsibilities: prohibits school districts from forbidding School Board member access to classrooms (with reasonable notice to superintendent, principal and teacher), and to curriculum materials and professional development content.
• Div. II: Responsibilities and Requirements Related to Health: creates a Health Care Related Training workgroup to address mandated trainings and make recommendations to General Assembly by Dec. 31, 2023. (Identical to language about a work group in SF 390 and HF 370.)
• Div. III: Mandatory Reporter: requires reporting of child abuse concerns by mandatory reporters for all students (current law is 12 years old and younger), and requires mandatory reporters to reveal who they believe is responsible for injury is also a school employee.
• Div. IV: Reporting and Investigation Process: requires DE to develop and implement a reporting and investigation process, requires the process to prohibit oral or written agreements with former employees to not reveal past behavior, requires school districts to continue investigations and share results with the BOEE (even if employees no longer work for the district), and requires school districts (plus charter schools and accredited nonpublic schools) to maintain personnel files of all complaints relating to health and safety of students for unlicensed employees, and requires the school to notify a prospective employer of those complaints if the prospective employer asks. Provides liability protection for sharing information with prospective employers and requires educator or school board penalties for failing to report or follow the process.
• Div. V: Educational Program: requires State BOE rules to require school districts to have an age-appropriate approach and to only use age-appropriate materials, removes HPV and HIV/AIDS from specific mention in the standards, requires each district to have a K-12 library program consistent with education standards, containing only age-appropriate materials, and supporting the student achievement goals of the total school curriculum. Defines “age-appropriate” to not include any material with graphic descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act defined in section 702.17 (the House amendment added the word “graphic” which we requested). Exempts human growth and development curriculum from this requirement.
• Div. VI: Board of Education Examiners Licenses: specifies requirements for higher education that offers a Teacher Intern License, requiring pedagogy training and work under a teacher leader, including during co-teaching and planning time. Also creates a new Temporary Initial Alternative License which would apply to completers with a bachelor’s degree who obtain a certificate from only one provider, the American College of Teacher Certification, which is an online program without student teaching or practicum experience. Specifies the requirements for the program and that the BOEE treat this license equal to other teaching licenses. (This language came from HF 255, which we opposed.)
• Div. VII School Responsibilities: requires that charter schools chartered by local school boards or by the state BOE be subject to all of the school district requirements in this bill. Charter School Athletics: allows charter school students to participate in resident district athletics. Counts these charter school students in enrollment for .10 weighting to compensate the district of residence (language from HF 253). Surveys: Requires parent permission to administer a formal examination or survey of a student, designed to assess the student’s mental, emotional or physical health not required by state or federal law without first getting written parent consent. Requires notice to parents of a survey required by state or federal law, including a link to the questions or survey. Exempts hearing and vision tests from this requirement. Transparency Provisions: Requires districts to post on district website a detailed description of the policy for a parent to request removal of a book or other educational material from classroom or library. Requires districts to post an explanation of the process to request a public hearing on any subject by petition. Requires each school board to have a policy for review of materials. Senate requires that policy be for parent access. The House amendment requires a policy for a “resident” to access instructional materials and requires that policy to include an opt-out provision for parents. For purposes of this policy, defines instructional materials as either printed or electronic textbooks and related core materials written and published primarily for use in school instruction and required by DE or local district for use by students in the student’s classes by the teacher of record. Specifies that this provision does not require a school district to violate intellectual property rights of any person. Specifically excludes lesson plans from the definition of instructional materials. Parental Rights: prohibits school district from knowingly giving false or misleading information to a parent regarding their child’s gender identity or intention to transition to a different gender. If a student requests accommodation to affirm the student’s gender identity from a licensed employee, including a request to address the student using a name or pronoun different from that on registration records, requires the teacher to inform administration and the administrator to report to the parent. Protection of Student Rights: requires prior written consent from parent for a student to reveal personal information (such as political affiliation, mental or psychological programs of the student or family, sexual behavior, orientation or attitudes, illegal, antisocial, self-incriminating or demeaning behavior, critical appraisals of family members, privileged information re: attorneys, doctors, or ministers, religious beliefs, or income except when necessary for FRPL or eligibility for other financial assistance). Prohibits the district, employees or contractors from revealing information about the student from surveys without written parent permission. Prohibited Instruction: prohibits any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion or instruction relating to gender identity or sexual orientation to K-6. Library Committee: Prohibits a student from serving on a library review committee to determine if a library school should be removed. Intra-district Enrollment: Allows parents to request an intra-district enrollment to another attendance center in the district if the results of a video surveillance recording or report from a district employee shows a student was harassed or bullied by another student. Requires a school board policy to define local capacity to accommodate such a request and requires the state BOE to adopt rules to implement (language from HF 429). Notice to Parents re Physical Injury or Bullying: Requires an employee witnessing a student either physically injured or bullied by another student to notify parents by phone or email within 24 hours. Seizure Action Plans and Training: defines terms and requires the implementation of Seizure disorder action plans and training to all school personnel by Dec. 31, 2025 to recognize seizures and appropriate first aid. Reporting and Investigation of Incidents: requires schools to follow the investigation and reporting process. Requires districts to check a list at BOEE which indicates if a prospective employee has a pending investigation with probable cause.
• Div. VIII Board of Education Examiners Membership: requires the BOEE to finalize an investigation, even if the licensed practitioner resigns or surrenders the license during the investigation. Requires BOEE to adopt rules to require the collection and retention of written complaints that are filed and if the complaints are unfounded, requires the records to be kept confidential. Requires BOEE to evaluate complaints if there are multiple similar complaints filed against the same licensed individual. Requires the BOEE to investigate the administrator in the school where a licensed practitioner complaint is founded to determine if the administrator complied with reporting requirements, to changes the make-up of the BOEE to 5 parent members, 5 licensed educators and 1 school board member and changes terms of BOEE members to implement the new configuration (language from HF 430 that UEN opposes).
• Div. IX Private Instruction and Special Education: allows a student in competition private instruction (homeschool) to receive special education services without approval of the AEA Special Education Director. Also allows the parent of a student in CPI home school identified as needing special education services to request dual enrollment, but still requires the special education services to follow special education requirements in Chapter 256B.
• Div. X: Parents and Guardians Rights: states that parents bear the ultimate responsibility and have the fundamental constitutionally protected right to make decisions affecting their child. Requires any and all restrictions of this right be subject to strict scrutiny. Exempts section 147.164 from SF 538 (prohibited gender transition procedure for minors) from this application.

The House amendment does not include the requirement to administer the INS Civics test as the assessment for US Government class and does not require successful completion of the test for graduation (both of which we also requested). The amendment does not include a prohibition of referring to a child with a different pronoun. The amendment eliminated the requirement to publish a list of contractors on a district website and also eliminated the requirement to post lists of instructional materials on a district website.

UEN is registered as undecided on this bill as amended, although there are several individual sections that we support or oppose. The bill with amendment H-1173 is on the House Calendar.

 

House Education Committee Action This Week:

In addition to the significant amendment to SF 496, the House Education Committee also approved the following bills:

SF 250 Computer Grants: allows recipients of computer science PD grants to use the money in the fiscal year of the grant through to September 30. Effective on enactment. The Senate passed the bill 50-0, sending it to the House. The House Education Committee approved it, sending it to the House Calendar. UEN supports.

 

SF 484 School Finance Interim Committee: requests the Legislative Council allow the School Finance Formula Review Committee to meet in 2023 to begin review work due to various funding disparities, COVID pandemic impacts and significant funding policy changes since the 2019 Interim, including creation of Education Savings Accounts. The Senate passed the bill 50-0, sending it to the House. The House Education Committee approved it, sending it to the House Calendar. UEN supports.

 

Senate Education Committee Action This Week:

HF 602 Suicide Hotline Numbers: requires public school grades 7-12 ID cards to include the Your Iowa Crisis telephone and text numbers. Allows schools that issue cards to grades 5-6 to do so as well. Applies to IDs issued after the effective date of the bill but requires schools to use existing IS card stock until that supply is exhausted. Sen. J. Taylor, the floor manager, stated the subcommittee’s intention to amend the bill to allow alternative suicide hotline numbers and to allow but not require school districts to use up card stock before adding the hotline. UEN is registered in support. The Senate Education Committee approved the bill unanimously, sending it to the Senate Calendar.

HF 604: Disruptive Students and Ombudsman Complaints. This bill requires the state Ombudsman to investigate complaints from licensed employees regarding school violence and requires school districts to have a discipline policy to remove disruptive students from the classroom. See the March 23 weekly report for a detailed description. Sen. Evans stated that the bill will be heavily amended when considered on the Senate Floor. The Senate Education Committee approved the bill unanimously, sending it to the Senate Calendar. UEN is opposed to the bill in its current form.

HF 430: Mandatory Reporters and BOEE: See the March 23 Weekly Report for a detailed description (or read the provisions above that were amended on to SF 496. Sen. Cournoyer stated that the bill will be amended when considered on the Senate Floor. The Senate Education Committee approved the bill unanimously, sending it to the Senate Calendar. UEN is opposed to the bill in its current form, primarily because of the change in the BOEE make-up and the requirement that school districts.

 

House Commerce Committee Action:

SF 418 Public Investment in China: prohibits public funds (the Treasurer, the Regents, various retirement funds) from investing in companies controlled by the Chinese military or Chinese government. Makes definitions and sets deadlines for releasing lists of prohibited companies. Requires the sale of assets in prohibited companies within 180 days of the company becoming a prohibited company. Requires the creation and maintenance of a list of prohibited companies. Authorizes IPERS to issue an RFP for a third party to identify prohibited companies. Moves to the House Calendar and survives the funnel deadline. UEN is registered undecided.

 

Other Bills that Survive the Funnel:

HF 632 Cyber-Attack Spending: allows schools to use SAVE for the acquisition, development and improvement of school information systems to protect against a cyber security event. The bill was approved by the Senate Technology Committee this week, sending it to the Senate Calendar. UEN supports.

HF 253 Charter School Sports: allows a student attending a charter school to participate in athletics and extra-curriculars at the student’s district of residence if the charter school does not offer the activity. Counts the student in the school enrollment and as 0.1 students for funding. Requires the state Board of Education to adopt rules to implement. The House passed the bill, 93:1, sending it to the Senate. It died in the Senate Education Committee but has been amended on to SF 496 in the House. UEN is undecided.

HF 429 School Transfers within District: allows a parent to enroll their child at another school in the school district if the school board reasonably believes that another student or school employee or contractors harassed or bullied the student. Requires the parent to make a request to the school board. Authorizes the school board to adopt policies to allow the school supervisor to approve requests. Makes the requests for a period of at least a year. Requires the new school to have appropriate special education programs for the student in order to allow the transfer. Requires that students who have been suspended or expelled be reinstated before a transfer is allowed. Makes the student eligible to compete in athletics if the student transfers to another school in the district. Requires teachers to notify parents if the teacher witnesses a student being injured, harassed or bullied. The House approved the bill 95:0, sending it to the Senate. It died in the Senate Education Committee but has been amended on to the SF 496 in the House. UEN is undecided.

 

Teacher Shortage / Hiring Flexibility Bills:

HF 256 Minimum Licensure Age: allows the BOEE to issue a license to someone as young as 18 if all criteria for licensure have been met. On the Senate Calendar and survives the funnel. UEN is registered in support.

HF 672 Permanent Teacher License: eliminates the requirement of CEUs for licensure renewal associated with licenses issued by the BOEE to practitioners with master’s or doctoral degrees, allows districts to charge fees associated with the review of Iowa Abuse Registries, and background checks for employees of school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, and charter schools (Formerly HF 224.) The bill is on the House Ways and Means Calendar (exempt from funnel deadline). UEN is registered in support.

HF 614 Licensure for Individuals from Other States/Countries: allows individuals to qualify for an Iowa teaching license without requiring a license from the prior jurisdiction, as long as they can document completion of the coursework and steps necessary to obtain that license. On the Senate Calendar, so survives the funnel. UEN supports.

 

Significant Bills Awaiting Action:

SF 392 Teach Iowa Scholar, BOEE Intern License, Management Levy for Teacher Recruitment and Retention. This bill is still in Senate Ways and Means. Although exempt from the funnel, it has a long way to go to get to enactment. UEN supports.

SF 390 Education Omnibus Clean-up Bill by IASB: modernizes processes, cleans up old language on SAVE and bonding, allows electronic notice, creates a task force to study mandated health trainings, and provides other flexibility options for school boards. On the Senate Calendar. UEN supports. HF 370 Companion was passed by the House 96-0, also on the Senate Calendar. The Health Trainings Work Group from this bill has been amended on to SF 496.

HF 459 Operational Sharing: restores original weightings plus increases the cap to 25 students. The bill is on the House Calendar and a Ways and Means bills, so exempt from the funnel deadline. Talking points are included below under Advocacy Actions. UEN supports.

SF 246 Dropout Prevention Equity: gradually increases the DoP capacity from the minimum of 2.5%, increasing by half a percent annually, until all districts are at the full 5% cap. The bill was approved unanimously by a subcommittee of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Since it’s a Ways and Means bill, it is exempt from funnel deadlines. UEN is registered in support.

SSB 1208 Education Tax Credits by Dawson: Excludes any amounts paid from an Education Savings Account from eligibility for the Tuition & Textbook Tax Credit. Reduces the Tuition & Textbook Tax Credit cap to $17 million in 2024 and $14 million in 2025. Requires eligible school organizations to certify that tuition grants do not exceed amounts paid by parents for tuition. Makes additional changes to HF 68 School Choice: Requires unused amounts in an ESA to be used by the student in consecutive future years and transfers the money to the state if the student does not participate in the program in the next year. Requires a private school to notify the DE if a student with an ESA withdraws or is expelled and requires the DE to stop disbursements and transfer the remaining funds to the state. Strikes requirements for school districts to make texts available to nonpublic school students. The bill is in the Senate Ways and Means Committee with Sens. Cournoyer, Dawson and Winckler assigned to the Subcommittee. UEN is registered in support. We would advocate to return the ESA funds to the public school if the student reenrolls in the public school rather than to the state, but this bill is a good start to implementing HF 68 more fairly.

 

Funnel Status:

We will take the weekend to sift through all UEN bill registrations for a complete list of dead bills and bills impacting UEN members that are still moving through the process. A notice of updated registrations will be sent out once we have that task completed. One dead bill worthy of mention:

 

SF 251 Limitation of Administrative Expenditure to 5%: 

Thanks to all UEN advocates who reached out to House members to explain our concerns with SF 251. This bill did not advance out of the House Education Committee, so is dead for the 2023 session. We will continue to discuss the importance of all nonteaching staff in our schools, for student safety, mental health and all of the operations and other supports that actually allow our teachers to focus on teaching. We encourage stakeholders to keep explaining the importance of all nonteaching positions to legislators and celebrating the contributions of our staff with local constituents over the Interim. UEN is opposed to this bill.

 

Advocacy Actions This Week:

Keep talking about Preschool and Poverty:

• HF 297 PK Weighting: did not get out of House Education Committee, so it’s technically dead for this year, but could be included in an appropriations bill and will remain alive for the 2024 Session. This bill would provide a 1.0 weighting for 4-year-olds in PK from families below 200% of the federal poverty level. Don’t give up. Talk with your House members about the return on investment of quality PK, improved outcomes for students, parents able to join the workforce, which helps employers and may free up childcare slots currently in short supply, and saves taxpayers money down the road (less special education, more high school graduation, more productive and less dependent adulthood). Find the UEN Issue Brief linked here: https://www.uen-ia.org/system/files/Public/IssueBriefs/UEN%20Issue%20Brief%20Preschool%202023.docx
• HF 477 Poverty Study: this bill was introduced too late to have a subcommittee meeting before the funnel deadline. It has bi-partisan sponsorship (Reps. Siegrist, Mattson and Sorenson). The bill reintroduces the conversation that started with the 2019 Interim School Finance Committee, which received unanimous bi-partisan support at that time, to have Iowa study what other states do to meet the needs of students from low-income families, close the achievement gap, and fund those costs through the formula. Find the UEN Issue Brief linked here: https://www.uen-ia.org/system/files/Public/IssueBriefs/UEN%20Issue%20Brief%20Poverty%202023.docx

Advocate with your Reps and Sens to improve these bills. Key messages:

• • SF 496 Governor’s Transparency/Parents’ Rights Now in the House: this bill has improved, but still needs a few fixes. 1) Ask Senators to support the House’s elimination of the Civics test, since there is no phase-in for this requirement. It is effective for graduations after July 1, 2023. Thank House members for removing the test so it is not a requirement for graduation and local districts are in charge of assessments. If Senators insist, ask for it to first apply to the freshman class of 2023-24, giving schools time to implement and students time to successfully master the content. 2) Advocate with House and Senate members to remove the provisions changing the make-up of the BOEE. Licensed educators want other licensed educators to be respectful and students and have no tolerance for bad apples. Having 50% of board members be parents/public members is unprecedented in professional licensure boards. 3) Ask House and Senate members to remove the Seizure Action and Training requirements. The health care trainings work group ought to first decide the process before expanding further trainings.
  • Encourage Flexibility: There are so many in the works; teacher recruitment and licensure flexibility, chapter 12 flexibility and efficiency, and bond language clean-up. Regarding SF 391 on Senate Calendar: ask Senators to refuse the House Changes and send the bill back to the House. There are many good things in that bill regarding district flexibility, offer and teach, and more local control (fewer state regulations). UEN is registered in support. See the March 9 UEN Weekly Report for details of the bill and the House Amendment.

Connecting with Legislators: To call and leave a message at the Statehouse during the legislative session, the House switchboard operator number is 515.281.3221 and the Senate switchboard operator number is 515.281.3371. You can ask if they are available or leave a message for them to call you back. You can also ask them what’s the best way to contact them during session. They may prefer email or text message or phone call based on their personal preferences.

Find biographical information about legislators gleaned from their election websites on the ISFIS site here: http://www.iowaschoolfinance.com/legislative_bios Learn about your new representatives and senators or find out something you don’t know about incumbents.

Find out who your legislators are through the interactive map or address search posted on the Legislative Website here: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find

UEN Advocacy Resources: Check out the UEN Website at www.uen-ia.org to find Advocacy Resources such as Issue Briefs, UEN Weekly Legislative Reports and video updates, UEN Calls to Action when immediate advocacy action is required, testimony presented to the State Board of Education, the DE or any legislative committee or public hearing, and links to fiscal information that may inform your work. The latest legislative actions from the Statehouse will be posted at: www.uen-ia.org/blogs-list. See the new 2023 UEN Advocacy Handbook, which is also available from the subscriber section of the UEN website.

 

Committee Members:

House Education Committee Members

• Skyler Wheeler (R, District 4), Chair
• Craig P. Johnson (R, District 67), Vice Chair
• Sharon Sue Steckman (D, District 59), Ranking Member
• Brooke Boden (R, District 21)
• Dr. Steven P. Bradley (R, District 66)
• Molly Buck (D, District 41)
• Sue Cahill (D, District 52)
• Taylor R. Collins (R, District 95)
• Tracy Ehlert (D, District 79)
• Joel Fry (R, District 24)
• Dan Gehlbach (R, District 46)
• Bill Gustoff (R, District 40)
• Steven Holt (R, District 12)
• Heather Hora (R, District 92)
• Chad Ingels (R, District 68)
• Monica Kurth (D, District 98)
• Mary L. Madison (D, District 31)
• Heather Matson (D, District 42)
• Thomas Jay Moore (R, District 18)
• Anne Osmundson (R, District 64)
• Ray Sorensen (R, District 23)
• Art Staed (D, District 80)
• Henry Stone (R, District 9)

House Education Reform Members

• Pat Grassley (R, District 57), Chair
• Matt W. Windschitl (R, District 15), Vice Chair
• Jennifer Konfrst (D, District 32), Ranking Member
• Sue Cahill (D, District 52)
• John H. Wills (R, District 10)

Senate Education Committee Members

• Ken Rozenboom (R, District 19), Chair
• Jeff Taylor (R, District 2), Vice Chair
• Herman C. Quirmbach (D, District 25), Ranking Member
• Claire Celsi (D, District 16)
• Chris Cournoyer (R, District 35)
• Molly Donahue (D, District 37)
• Lynn Evans (R, District 3)
• Julian B. Garrett (R, District 11)
• Eric Giddens (D, District 38)
• Kerry Gruenhagen (R, District 41)
• Tim Kraayenbrink (R, District 4)
• Sandy Salmon (R, District 29)
• Amy Sinclair (R, District 12)
• Sarah Trone Garriott (D, District 14)
• Cherielynn Westrich (R, District 13)
• Brad Zaun (R, District 22)

Senate Ways and Means Committee Members

• Dan Dawson (R, District 10), Chair
• Carrie Koelker (R, District 33), Vice Chair
• Pam Jochum (D, District 36), Ranking Member
• Mike Bousselot (R, District 21)
• Waylon Brown (R, District 30)
• Chris Cournoyer (R, District 35)
• Adrian Dickey (R, District 44)
• William A. Dotzler Jr. (D, District 31)
• Dawn Driscoll (R, District 46)
• Mike Klimesh (R, District 32)
• Janet Petersen (D, District 18)
• Herman C. Quirmbach (D, District 25)
• David D. Rowley (R, District 5)
• Jason Schultz (R, District 6)
• Annette Sweeney (R, District 27)
• Todd E. Taylor (D, District 40)
• Cindy Winckler (D, District 49)
• Brad Zaun (R, District 22)

House Ways and Means Committee Members

• Bobby Kaufmann (R, District 82), Chair
• Barb Kniff McCulla (R, District 37), Vice Chair
• David Jacoby (D, District 86), Ranking Member
• Brian Best (R, District 11)
• Jane Bloomingdale (R, District 60)
• Brooke Boden (R, District 21)
• Ken Croken (D, District 97)
• Dave Deyoe (R, District 51)
• John Forbes (D, District 44)
• Eric J. Gjerde (D, District 74)
• Austin Harris (R, District 26)
• Charles Isenhart (D, District 72)
• Craig P. Johnson (R, District 67)
• Megan Jones (R, District 6)
• Kenan Judge (D, District 27)
• Monica Kurth (D, District 98)
• Shannon Lundgren (R, District 65)
• Amy Nielsen (D, District 85)
• Anne Osmundson (R, District 64)
• Michael V. Sexton (R, District 7)
• Brent Siegrist (R, District 19)
• Phil Thompson (R, District 48)
• John H. Wills (R, District 10)
• Elizabeth Wilson (D, District 73)
• Derek Wulf (R, District 76)