Capitol Update - April 6, 2023

UEN Legislative Update
April 6, 2023

Download the print-friendly Weekly Report 04/06/2023

This UEN Weekly Report from the 2023 Legislative Session includes:

• Appropriations Process Begins
• Last Legislative Deadline
• House Amends SF 496 Governor’s Transparency and Parents’ Rights
• Significant Bills Awaiting Action
• Advocacy Action
• Links to Advocacy Resources
• Members of Important Committees

 

Appropriations Process Begins:

This chart from the IALNS Newsletter shows the movement of eight budget bills in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which typically signifies the beginning of the end of a Legislative Session. However, in an unprecedented move, the bills were all passed out of committee as bill “shells”, meaning all of the language of the appropriations bills was included, but where budget numbers should be included, there are blanks.

 

The UEN testified at the Appropriations Subcommittee on SF 560 Education Appropriations regarding the line items in the bill that address student mental health. The Governor recommended status quo appropriations for Mental Health Training and Supports, Therapeutics Classroom Incentive Grants and Transportation, and Mental Health Professional Loan Repayment funds. We requested an increase for all four, as student mental health challenges are more severe than ever coming out of the COVID pandemic. All of these appropriations bills are on the Senate Calendar. The House has not yet started its appropriations bills.

 

Last Legislative Deadline:

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.

 

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

SF 496 Governor’s Transparency/Parents’ Rights: as anticipated, the House amended the Senate’s version plus added the contents of several other House bills to the package, sending it back to the Senate. Six House Republicans joined all of the Democrats in voting NO (Reps. Bergan, Harris, Ingels, Jones, Lohse, and H. Wilz. Reps. Best, Kaufmann and Sieck were absent/not voting).

The House amendment strikes the requirement to administer the INS Civics test as the assessment for US Government class and removes the successful completion of the test for graduation (both of which we also requested). The amendment deletes the prohibition of referring to a child with a different pronoun and eliminates the requirement to notify a parent if any employee observes a child behaving differently from their gender at birth. The amendment also strikes the requirement to publish a list of contractors on a district website and to post lists of instructional materials on a district website.

Here is bill summary as amended by the House, by Division:

• 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, and 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 Iowa Code section 147.164 from SF 538 (prohibited gender transition procedure for minors) from this application.

UEN is registered as undecided on this bill as amended, although there are several individual sections that we support or oppose. The bill goes back to the Senate Calendar. The House, Senate and Governor will likely negotiate the final package to be in this bill, if it is to move forward.

 

Significant Bills Awaiting Action: House Calendar

• SF 250 Computer Grants PD Extension: on the House Calendar. UEN supports.
• SF 484 School Finance Interim Committee: requests the School Finance Formula Review Committee to meet in 2023, now on the House Calendar. UEN supports.
• 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.

 

Significant Bills Awaiting Action: Senate Calendar

• HF 602 Suicide Hotline Numbers: requires public school grades 7-12 ID cards to include the Your Iowa Crisis telephone and text numbers, now on the Senate Calendar. UEN is registered in support.

• HF 604: Disruptive Students and Ombudsman Complaints. see the March 23 weekly report for a detailed description. We anticipate the bill will be heavily amended when considered on the Senate Floor. Now on 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. We expect the bill to be amended when considered on the Senate Floor. Now on 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.

• 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. 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. Now on the Senate Calendar. UEN supports.

• SF 391 Gov’s Chapter 12 Flexibility (w/HF 357): this is the bill that eliminates the CSIP, changes offer and teach requirements, lowers the number of fine arts and world language courses that must be offered for accreditation, and makes other changes. UEN supports.

• SF 483 Seizure Disorder Training (w/HF 608): requires seizure disorder plans and training for all school employees about seizure disorder detection and first aid. UEN is opposed and would prefer the health care training task force first determine the scope of training requirements and how best to consider more, either from IASB’s modernization bill or as added to SF 496 by the House. The bill is on the Senate Calendar.

• SF 546 Electronic Notice (W&M bill): allows school districts to post all public notices, minutes and agendas, etc., on a website maintained by the Iowa Secretary of State for a fee of $5 per posting. UEN is registered in support. The bill is on the Senate calendar, but as a Ways and Means bill, is exempt from the funnel deadlines.

 

Still in Senate Ways and Means: 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.

 

Lastly, More Property Tax Proposals and Income Tax Elimination:

• HF 1 House’s Property Tax Proposal: lower Uniform Levy, 10% set aside for construction projects, notify all property owners via mail (still in the House Ways and Means Committee). UEN is opposed.
• SF 356 Senate’s Property Tax Proposal: which primarily impacts cities and counties, and repeals the public education and recreation levy which does impact school district. On Senate Calendar with UEN opposed.
• SF 552 Elimination of Personal and Corporate Income Tax: on the Senate Calendar. UEN is opposed.

 

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)