HF 2278—Open Enrollment Transportation: This bill allows a receiving district of an open enrolled student to send school vehicles into the district of residence to pick up students. This is limited to districts with an enrollment of less than 2,000 students, vehicles can’t go more than two miles into the district of residence, and the student must live closer to their school in the receiving district than the school they would attend in their district of residence. If the school board in both the sending and receiving districts agree to it, transportation can be provided by the receiving district in any circumstance. The bill clarifies that sending districts are not responsible for the cost of transportation for low-income students if they take advantage of transportation outlined in this bill. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill because it doesn’t require approval by the board in both districts, but there are good limitations on it. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 49-0 and passed the House by a vote of 91-6. Governor Reynolds signed the bill into law on May 1, 2024. 

HF 2393—Dental Screenings: This bill adds dental screenings, in addition to vision and hearing, as allowed in schools without receiving parental consent. An amendment on the House floor specifically added the word 'screening' to clarify the intent.     

IASB is registered for the bill, as this is an important service schools provide students. The bill passed the House by a vote of 95-0 and passed the Senate 48-0. Governor Reynolds signed the bill into law on April 10, 2024. 

HF 2398—Bond and Insurance Policies for Board Members: The bill allows a public officer to purchase an insurance policy in lieu of posting a bond and requires the policy to substantially meet the bond requirements. It allows for the reasonable expenses of the insurance policy to be paid for by the government to the extent the expenses of the bond would be covered.  

IASB is registered in support of the bill because it reflects the current practice of districts. The bill passed the House by a vote of 97-0 and the Senate by a vote of 46-0. The bill was signed into law by Governor Reynolds on April 19, 2024. 

HF 2487—Board of Educational Examiners (BOEE) Requirements: This bill includes several policies related to BOEE procedures: 

• Moves the process established for investigating complaints against school employees under the authority of the BOEE. This process was established in legislation (HF 430) last year, but under the authority of the Department of Education.     

• Adds mandatory reporting of grooming behavior to the BOEE and will result in a teacher’s license being revoked. 

• Adds definitions of grooming behavior, inappropriate relationships, and misconduct.  

• BOEE will report any evidence of a crime to law enforcement that they find during an investigation of a licensed or non licensed school employee. 

• Removes the statute of limitations to file a complaint against a school employee for engaging in an inappropriate relationship. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. We like the addition of a definition of grooming; however, we have concerns about removing the statute of limitations because it could put districts in a difficult position of defending a claim from years prior without sufficient witnesses or evidence. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 49-0 and passed the House by a vote of 89-0. The bill was signed into law by Governor Reynolds on April 19, 2024. 

HF 2602—Grooming as a Criminal Offense: The bill adds grooming of a minor as a criminal offense and defines what constitutes grooming. This is one of two bills this session addressing grooming and providing definitions, but this bill adds it as a class D felony whereas HF 2487 makes it a mandatory reporting topic. 

IASB is registered undecided because this bill’s definition is different than what was in HF 2487, so there are now two definitions of grooming in code. The bill passed the House by a vote of 94-0 and passed the Senate by a vote of 46-0. Governor Reynolds signed the bill into law on May 1, 2024. 

HF 2615—Providing College Debt Information: This bill requires schools to provide 11th and 12th grade students who have expressed an interest in postsecondary education with information compiled by colleges and universities on student loan debt and income of graduates. Additionally, the supplemental weighting for a shared career and college transition counselor or coordinator will be exempt from a district’s maximum allowed weighting. Districts only have to provide a link to the student debt and income information.    

IASB is registered in support of the bill. We support the operational sharing exemption for the career and college transition counselor role and want to ensure it’s not an extra burden for districts to get the information that must be provided to students on loan debt and income. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 48-0 and passed the House by a vote of 95-0. Governor Reynolds signed the bill into law on May 1, 2024. 

HF 2653—Perry School District Waivers: This bill provides waivers for hours and graduation requirements for the Perry School District because of the tragic shooting earlier this year. Also, the district can use its management fund to pay a one-time retention bonus to employees. The state Department of Education will work with the U.S. Department of Education to ensure other waivers are granted for federal requirements.     

IASB is registered in support of the bill because it helps Perry get through a difficult school year without worrying about these requirements. The bill passed the House by a vote of 94-1 and passed the Senate by a vote of 49-0. Governor Reynolds signed the bill on April 5, 2024. 

SF 2331—Public Notice Requirements: The bill requires a public notice website to be operated by a statewide association of newspapers. The website must contain all public notices required by law, be searchable, allow for the public to subscribe to email notifications for certain notices and provide access to the notifications for at least one year after publication. An amendment by the House allows the public notice website to charge a fee to subscribe to the notifications. The fee will not exceed the cost of providing the subscription service. 

Additionally, if a newspaper has a website, they are required to post public notices online without requiring a subscription to see them. Newspaper websites will also publish the link to the statewide website of all public notices.      

IASB is registered in support of the bill, although we preferred an earlier version of the bill that allowed public notice requirements to be met simply by publishing them on the statewide website. The bill passed the House by a vote of 95-2 and the Senate concurred with their amendment and passed it by a vote of 47-0. Governor Reynolds signed the bill into law on April 10, 2024.