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Legislative Update from ISEA:
Got this from a retired teacher:
The ninth week of the session was a true roller coaster in terms of pace and substance at the statehouse. Next week marks the second funnel, the major deadline for the session. To be eligible for consideration, all bills must be passed by the committee of the opposite chamber, the exception being ways and means bills and appropriation bills. So, by the end of next week, if a bill has not passed in one chamber and been passed by the other chamber’s committee, the bill is considered dead for the remainder of the general assembly. This means that next week will see a flurry of activity in public as well as behind the scenes as legislators negotiate to see what will dominate discussion for the rest of the session.
Teacher Compensation Update – GOOD NEWS ALERT
HF 2630 (ISEA-For) With a vote of 93-1 (6 absent or not voting) this bill passed the floor of the House and now moves to the Senate for consideration. This bill would create essentially three buckets of new funding which include increasing the minimum starting salary for initial teachers, bringing all education support professionals who are not salaried, up to a minimum of $15/hr, and, $22 million to be used by local districts to reward veteran educators for their experience. All three buckets would be built into the school finance formula making this sustainable in the long term. We believe that this is an important step to ensure that we retain and attract the best education professionals to meet the needs of our nearly 500,000 students across this state. Thank you to the House for prioritizing this and supporting the bill with overwhelming bipartisan support. We must now implore the Senate and the Governor to support HF 2630. Please also ask your school board members, superintendents, and colleagues to support this bill and contact lawmakers. Competitive compensation for educators is long overdue.
Arming School Personnel
HF 2586 (ISEA-Against) The bill establishes a grant program related to school security personnel and authorizes school employees to be issued professional permits to carry weapons while on school grounds. It would allow school employees to be issued a permit to carry a firearm on school grounds if allowed by the local school district. It requires that permitted school personnel’s identity be confidential. It also provides the employee and the district with qualified immunity from criminal and civil penalties should an incident arise. The bill seeks to make it easier for school personnel to be armed at schools and attempts to avoid the insurance concerns of previous bills. The ISEA believes this bill increases the likelihood of firearm injury to students and staff, and we firmly believe that more guns in our schools do not make students and schools safer. We support a focus on prevention efforts, such as ensuring that students have access to health resources and quality education professionals who can identify and engage at-risk pupils to help keep everyone safe, investing in improved safety measures in our school buildings, and improving appropriate surveillance and communication channels with local law enforcement. The bill passed the House despite bipartisan opposition and now has been passed by a Senate subcommittee, making it eligible for consideration by the full Senate Education Committee next Thursday. We hope that the Senate will decide not to move the legislation forward, but will need your assistance in communicating with Senators, tell them to vote no on HF 2586.
HSB 692 (ISEA-For) This bill initially would have incentivized school districts to make additional investments in infrastructure, including communication equipment and software, to enhance school security. The ISEA supports such investments and believes that they are vital to helping to prevent violence in schools. Unfortunately, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment that would provide $3 million in grants for schools to pay for equipment necessary to implement HF 2586. This would include weapons to arm school personnel. It would also provide a stipend to those personnel who would be in receipt of the professional permit created by HF 2586. ISEA does not support this amendment.
AEA Update
HF 2612 (ISEA-Against) This bill, as well as the Senate version SF 2386, has not seen further legislative consideration, despite the Senate having placed the bill on the debate calendar for consideration.
Please continue to urge Senators to assemble a task force to study the essential services provided by the AEAs and ensure each stakeholder has a voice in the conversation, including educators and parents, before any further action is taken. Our advocacy is working – we need to keep it up!
Curriculum Changes
HF 2544 (ISEA-Against) The bill prescribes 15 elements required in social studies instruction. It also requires passage of the citizenship test before admission into a regent university. It passed in the House despite bipartisan opposition and now moves to the Senate, where it has been scheduled for subcommittee consideration.
HF 2545 (ISEA-Undecided) The bill requires the Director of the Iowa Department of Education to conduct a comprehensive review of high school graduation requirements, core curriculum, core content standards, and educational standards. The ISEA supports a comprehensive review of content standards and graduation requirements. However, we are registered as Undecided because the bill includes reference to a prescribed list of things that the task force should investigate- including items that are not being taught, giving the bill a politicized tone that we feel is inappropriate and unnecessary. It passed the House and now moves to the Senate Education Committee for consideration.
HF 2617 (ISEA-Against) The bill requires discussion of pregnancy and fetal development in human growth and development courses in grades 7-12. While we appreciate modifications to be more age-appropriate from its initial form, the ISEA believes that the instructional materials used in the discussion of health curriculum and biology should be evidence-based and not the product of a political agenda. It passed the House despite bipartisan opposition and now moves to the Senate. This bill was scheduled for subcommittee; however, it was canceled. We will be ready to speak in opposition should the bill be scheduled for further consideration.
Supplemental State Aid (SSA) Update
HF 2613 (ISEA-Against) The bill sets the SSA rate at 3% for FY 2025. There has not been any additional movement on the House bill or on SF 2258 (ISEA-Against), the Senate’s shell SSA bill that does not contain a percentage.
March 15th is the deadline that Iowa school districts face for certifying budgets for the next school year. We are one week from that deadline and anticipate the Senate will act next week.
Collective Bargaining Update
SF 2374 (ISEA-Against). The bill has not been placed on the debate calendar. ISEA and others representing public employee unions continue to work behind the scenes to ensure that the bill does not have the support necessary to see further action.
If the bill gets scheduled for debate in the full Senate, we must quickly mobilize and tell legislators to stop the attack on public employee unions. We are cautiously optimistic that this bill will not survive the second funnel, but we will not know for sure until next week. Please watch your personal email and ISEA social media for any breaking news.
For more specific bill information, visit www.isea.org/advocacy-center for a summary of each of the bills mentioned above, as well as many others.
Teacher Compensation Update – GOOD NEWS ALERT
HF 2630 (ISEA-For) With a vote of 93-1 (6 absent or not voting) this bill passed the floor of the House and now moves to the Senate for consideration. This bill would create essentially three buckets of new funding which include increasing the minimum starting salary for initial teachers, bringing all education support professionals who are not salaried, up to a minimum of $15/hr, and, $22 million to be used by local districts to reward veteran educators for their experience. All three buckets would be built into the school finance formula making this sustainable in the long term. We believe that this is an important step to ensure that we retain and attract the best education professionals to meet the needs of our nearly 500,000 students across this state. Thank you to the House for prioritizing this and supporting the bill with overwhelming bipartisan support. We must now implore the Senate and the Governor to support HF 2630. Please also ask your school board members, superintendents, and colleagues to support this bill and contact lawmakers. Competitive compensation for educators is long overdue.
Arming School Personnel
HF 2586 (ISEA-Against) The bill establishes a grant program related to school security personnel and authorizes school employees to be issued professional permits to carry weapons while on school grounds. It would allow school employees to be issued a permit to carry a firearm on school grounds if allowed by the local school district. It requires that permitted school personnel’s identity be confidential. It also provides the employee and the district with qualified immunity from criminal and civil penalties should an incident arise. The bill seeks to make it easier for school personnel to be armed at schools and attempts to avoid the insurance concerns of previous bills. The ISEA believes this bill increases the likelihood of firearm injury to students and staff, and we firmly believe that more guns in our schools do not make students and schools safer. We support a focus on prevention efforts, such as ensuring that students have access to health resources and quality education professionals who can identify and engage at-risk pupils to help keep everyone safe, investing in improved safety measures in our school buildings, and improving appropriate surveillance and communication channels with local law enforcement. The bill passed the House despite bipartisan opposition and now has been passed by a Senate subcommittee, making it eligible for consideration by the full Senate Education Committee next Thursday. We hope that the Senate will decide not to move the legislation forward, but will need your assistance in communicating with Senators, tell them to vote no on HF 2586.
HSB 692 (ISEA-For) This bill initially would have incentivized school districts to make additional investments in infrastructure, including communication equipment and software, to enhance school security. The ISEA supports such investments and believes that they are vital to helping to prevent violence in schools. Unfortunately, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment that would provide $3 million in grants for schools to pay for equipment necessary to implement HF 2586. This would include weapons to arm school personnel. It would also provide a stipend to those personnel who would be in receipt of the professional permit created by HF 2586. ISEA does not support this amendment.
AEA Update
HF 2612 (ISEA-Against) This bill, as well as the Senate version SF 2386, has not seen further legislative consideration, despite the Senate having placed the bill on the debate calendar for consideration.
Please continue to urge Senators to assemble a task force to study the essential services provided by the AEAs and ensure each stakeholder has a voice in the conversation, including educators and parents, before any further action is taken. Our advocacy is working – we need to keep it up!
Curriculum Changes
HF 2544 (ISEA-Against) The bill prescribes 15 elements required in social studies instruction. It also requires passage of the citizenship test before admission into a regent university. It passed in the House despite bipartisan opposition and now moves to the Senate, where it has been scheduled for subcommittee consideration.
HF 2545 (ISEA-Undecided) The bill requires the Director of the Iowa Department of Education to conduct a comprehensive review of high school graduation requirements, core curriculum, core content standards, and educational standards. The ISEA supports a comprehensive review of content standards and graduation requirements. However, we are registered as Undecided because the bill includes reference to a prescribed list of things that the task force should investigate- including items that are not being taught, giving the bill a politicized tone that we feel is inappropriate and unnecessary. It passed the House and now moves to the Senate Education Committee for consideration.
HF 2617 (ISEA-Against) The bill requires discussion of pregnancy and fetal development in human growth and development courses in grades 7-12. While we appreciate modifications to be more age-appropriate from its initial form, the ISEA believes that the instructional materials used in the discussion of health curriculum and biology should be evidence-based and not the product of a political agenda. It passed the House despite bipartisan opposition and now moves to the Senate. This bill was scheduled for subcommittee; however, it was canceled. We will be ready to speak in opposition should the bill be scheduled for further consideration.
Supplemental State Aid (SSA) Update
HF 2613 (ISEA-Against) The bill sets the SSA rate at 3% for FY 2025. There has not been any additional movement on the House bill or on SF 2258 (ISEA-Against), the Senate’s shell SSA bill that does not contain a percentage.
March 15th is the deadline that Iowa school districts face for certifying budgets for the next school year. We are one week from that deadline and anticipate the Senate will act next week.
Collective Bargaining Update
SF 2374 (ISEA-Against). The bill has not been placed on the debate calendar. ISEA and others representing public employee unions continue to work behind the scenes to ensure that the bill does not have the support necessary to see further action.
If the bill gets scheduled for debate in the full Senate, we must quickly mobilize and tell legislators to stop the attack on public employee unions. We are cautiously optimistic that this bill will not survive the second funnel, but we will not know for sure until next week. Please watch your personal email and ISEA social media for any breaking news.
For more specific bill information, visit www.isea.org/advocacy-center for a summary of each of the bills mentioned above, as well as many others.
CONTACT
GOVERNOR REYNOLDS
SENATORS
REPRESENTATIVES
YOUR LEGISLATORS
House switchboard: 515.281.3221
Senate switchboard: 515.281.3116
FOLLOW THESE STEPS/TIPS WHEN CONTACTING ELECTED OFFICIALS
Introduce yourself, explain where you live, and that you are their constituent.
Share a personal story: How have AEA services helped you or your family?
Add a talking point listed below - find one that connects to your story.
Keep your email brief and respectful.
Use a personal email address and write your letter in your personal time.
Make sure to not share student information, private data, or locations.