IASB is registered in support of the bill. This is another avenue to address the teacher shortage, especially in these high-need areas. The bill passed the House by a vote of 94-2 and passed the Senate by a vote of 30-16.  

HF 2231—Civics Excellence Program and Seal: This bill directs the Department of Education to develop a civics excellence program that can lead a student to receive a civics seal on their high school diploma.  

IASB is registered in favor of the bill. We appreciate that participating in the program will be voluntary from districts and want to recognize students who take an interest in civics. It passed the House by a vote of 94-0 and passed the Senate by a vote of 45-0. 

SF 2086—Junior Firefighter Programs: This bill allows a school district to enter an agreement with their local fire department to offer a junior firefighter program to students in 11th and 12th grade. The bill outlines what the program must include if a district chooses to offer the program. It must be taught by fire service training bureau personnel.  

IASB is registered in support of the bill. It gives districts the choice of whether to offer a program and doesn’t mandate it. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 47-0 and passed the House by a vote of 94-0. 

SF 2219—Exempt Absences for School-Sponsored Activities: The House amended this bill to require districts to adopt policy that grants students an exempt absence when students miss school for participation in a school-sponsored activity, program, competition, or project. Students must be allowed to make up the work they miss during these absences.  

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. We think this isn’t necessary as Department of Education guidance already directs school districts to count students “present” when missing for these activities, so there is no need to exempt them from an absence. The bill passed the House by a vote of 85-8 and passed the Senate by a vote of 47-0.  

SF 2220—Talented and Gifted Programming, Advanced Math Pathways, Whole Grade Acceleration: This bill, proposed by the Department of Education, includes several different components. 

• Talented and Gifted (TAG) Identification and Programming 

  • Districts must establish procedures for identifying and serving TAG students. 

  • The district must ensure all populations of students are properly screened and identified, including special education and English learners. 

  • Provide programming and services that fit the educational talents of students. 

  • Review the progress of TAG students each year.

• Advanced Math Pathway 
  

  • Students will automatically be enrolled in advanced math if they perform at the advanced level on the statewide assessment or demonstrate proficiency in math coursework in grades 5-7. 

  • Districts must provide a pathway designed to increase the number of students who complete higher-level math in high school. 

• Whole Grade Acceleration 

  • Districts will implement procedures for either subject or whole-grade acceleration.

  • Districts will automatically enroll students in the next most rigorous course in either math or English if a student performs at the advanced level on the statewide assessment in the subject. 

The bill clarifies that talented and gifted programming must address the common challenges of these students to ensure personal and academic growth. School districts will also ensure students are ready and prepared for whole grade acceleration, rather than basing it solely on test scores. The implementation date for the advanced math pathway and whole grade acceleration will be July 1, 2027. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. We support providing programming to fit and challenge all students, but districts should be able to make these decisions on their own. An advanced math pathway requires upper-level math teachers, which are often hard to find, making this hard to implement effectively. We appreciate the bill giving districts more time to adjust to the proposed changes. The bill passed the House by a vote of 84–11 and passed the Senate by a vote of 44–3. It now goes to Governor Reynolds for her consideration. 

HF 2670—Summative Assessment Changes, Curriculum Changes: This bill would add social studies to the summative assessment requirements. It would be administered in grades 8 and 11.  

It would make small changes to the health curriculum requirements, making instruction on physical fitness, food and nutrition, and personal health required. The bill originally removed the prescriptive personal finance literacy curriculum requirements from code; however, an amendment by the Senate Education Committee added this back into the bill. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. The changes are not overly burdensome, but we wish the removal of personal finance literacy curriculum in code was still included. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 30-17 and passed the House by a vote of 65-28. It now goes to Governor Reynolds for her consideration. 

This bill, originally proposed by the governor, includes several divisions impacting school districts: 

• School districts must enter into a sharing agreement with a community provider if the community provider requests it. 

• The sharing agreement cannot limit how many students can attend preschool at the community provider. 

• School districts cannot make the community provider modify their standards for admission or educational programming. 

• School districts and the state cannot impose regulations on the community provider that aren’t necessary for the provider’s participation in the preschool program. 

• Community providers must be given the maximum amount of freedom to provide education for their students, consistent with state and federal law. 

• Community-based providers must follow the same requirements as school districts when participating in the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program. 

SF 2299—Payment for Failed Concurrent Enrollment Course: This bill would require a student or their parent to pay the school district the amount they spent on a concurrent enrollment course if the student fails the course, only if the school district requests it. A student withdrawing from a community college course is also a reason to charge a student for the cost. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. We have concerns that this may dissuade students from enrolling in these courses but understand there should be accountability when students decide to take a community college class. It passed the House by a vote of 62-31 and passed the Senate by a vote of 33-12.  

SF 2365—Notice Requirements for Construction Contracts: This bill requires public entities, like a school district, to provide written notice to contractors and subcontractors within 14 days of accepting a final bid. There is no liability if a district does not comply. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. We think contractors can already attend a board meeting or look at board meeting minutes to receive this information, but it is not a large burden on districts. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 45-0 and passed the House by a vote of 93-0.  

HF 2490—Public Notice Requirements: This bill would require districts to post a public notice in a place designated for notices that is visible at all times, like the door or window of an administrative building, and posting the notice on the district website. If a posted agenda is changed, the district must mark the agenda as “amended” and identify which agenda item has been changed. The bill adds the last day an employee performed their job and any severance paid to an employee as public records. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. This is best practice and already being done by most districts, so it won’t be a large burden moving forward. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 44-0 and passed the House by a vote of 88-0. 

The bill directs the Department of Education to establish a pilot program in one rural and one urban school district that would create an attendance center to provide educational services, including special education services, to eligible students. These students would include special education students and students whose emotional or behavioral needs interfere with their ability to be successful in the regular classroom.  

The districts chosen for the pilot program must be able to either fund it themselves, or the Department of Education must fund the pilot. 

The bill establishes procedures and required policies for addressing both violent and nonviolent disruptions by students that lead a teacher to remove a student from the classroom. 

SF 274—Requiring Schools to Accept Cash at Events: This bill requires school districts to accept cash at athletic and extracurricular events hosted in their district. An amendment by the Senate ensures this doesn’t apply to events that take place outside a school district, like the state tournament.  

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. We would prefer that this is a local decision and caution that dealing with cash can lead to misplaced funds or fraud. The amended bill passed the Senate by a vote of 44-0 and passed the House by a vote of 80-7.  

SF 2474—Cardiac Emergency Response Plans: This bill requires the Department of Education to work with school districts to gather data on which districts already have cardiac emergency response a plan, if and how many AEDs they have, where the AEDs are located, and if they’re in good working order.  

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. We appreciate that the DE will gather data on this subject before requiring a plan and the purchase of AEDs. The bill passed the House by a vote of 85-0 and passed the Senate by a vote of 42-0. 

• Allows the University of Northern Iowa to authorize charter schools.

• Removes outdated code language references to “innovation zone schools”.

• Requires teacher salary supplement (TSS) funding to follow students to a charter school.

• Allows charter school students to participate in extracurricular activities in their resident district in the same manner as nonpublic school students do now.

• Requires public schools to provide driver education to resident charter school students. The charter school will be responsible for the cost.  

• Allows charter school employees to participate in IPERS.

• Creates a revolving loan fund, administered by the Iowa Finance Authority, to assist charter schools in purchasing and renovating school buildings.  

• Adds a second application window for ESAs to account for students wishing to receive an ESA for the second semester.

• Requires the Department of Education to convene a working group to make recommendations on a schedule for required teacher trainings.

• Allows a community-based provider to directly participate in the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program instead of partnering with a school district.

• Allows charter school students to participate in concurrent enrollment through the school district where the charter school is located.

• Requires districts to submit the reason for an open enrollment denial to the Department of Education.

HF 2493—Five-Year-Old Eligibility for Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program (SWVPP): This bill would allow a five-year-old, with a birthday between March 15 and September 15 of the school year in which they would be five, to enroll in preschool through the SWVPP. If the child attended preschool as a four-year-old and was counted for state, they would not be counted for state funding purposes as a five-year-old. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. We think the SWVPP should prioritize four-year-olds but understand the need for some five-year-olds to have another year before kindergarten that isn’t available if a district doesn’t have a transitional kindergarten program. The bill passed the House by a vote of 88-2 and passed the Senate by a vote of 46-0. 

HF 2591—Open Enrollment and Transfer Athletic Eligibility: This bill changes the period of time an open enrolled or transfer student must sit out before participating in athletics. Currently, students must sit out for 90 school days, but this bill changes it to 140 calendar days. The House amended the bill to allow 8th graders to participate in athletics. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill but understand the purpose is to account for school districts on a four-day school week. We do have concerns with the addition of 8th graders allowed to play varsity sports. The bill, as amended, passed the House by a vote of 93-0 and passed the Senate by a vote of 43-4. 

SF 2320—Require In-Person Concurrent Enrollment: This bill would require a student that is enrolled in a concurrent enrollment course to take the in-person option if it is available, rather than the online version. It allows the superintendent to authorize a student to take the online version if necessary. 

IASB is undecided on the bill. We appreciate the local flexibility to allow students to take the online course if needed. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 44-0 and passed the House by a vote of 91-2. 

• Requiring the Board of Educational Examiners (BOEE) to verify that an applicant for initial licensure is legally authorized to work in the U.S. 

• Requiring school districts to use E-Verify for all new employee hires. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. The conference committee report was adopted and the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 37-10 and passed the House by a vote of 71-20.

SF 2430—Flags at Half-Staff at School Buildings: This bill would require districts to fly the U.S. and Iowa flags at half-staff if directed to do so by a proclamation from the governor.  

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. Districts are already doing this, but we want to ensure that an innocent omission, rather than purposeful, is not punished. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 38-9 and passed the House by a vote of 75-4. 

HF 2230—Teacher Prep Programs: This bill, introduced by the Department of Education (DE), would make changes to the requirements of the state’s teacher preparation programs: 

SF 2201—Supplemental State Aid (SSA): This is the updated deal made on SSA for this year. It includes: 

• 2% increase in overall new money. 

• Budget guarantee covered by state aid for 199 districts that would be eligible at this SSA level. It amounts to $42.9 million. 

• Transportation equity; the payment to a district will be capped at $1 million. 

• Education support personnel salary supplement: $7 million 

• Establishes a second count date of Jan. 15. Districts would average their two enrollment counts to establish their basic enrollment. 

• State aid payments would be sent out quarterly, beginning in July.  

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. We appreciate that this is higher than the Senate’s original proposal, but the overall funding is not enough to keep up with the increasing costs districts are facing, from utilities to meeting increased minimum teacher salaries. The bill passed the House by a vote of 58-35 and passed the Senate by a vote of 27-20. It was signed into law by Governor Reynolds on February 26.