Legislative Update for 03/11/2022

In honor of "baseball is back!" (might need to Google it...), I'm throwing you all a curve ball - a morning edition of the Legislative Update!

The legislature keeps on trucking, spending a considerable amount of time in floor debate while also ramping up committee and subcommittee work. I’m going to structure this weekly update the same as that from last week, by covering some of the bills that saw some form of movement over the past week. 

• HF2081 - relating to teachers, including the assessments administered to practitioner preparation program admission candidates and to practitioner preparation program students prior to students’ completion of a practitioner preparation program. Senate subcommittee recommends passage.
• HF2412 - requiring radon testing and mitigation in public schools. Senate subcommittee recommends passage.
• HF2493 - relating to paraeducators holding substitute authorizations. Passed the Senate by a vote of 47-0, moves to the Governor for signature. 
• HF2495 - establishing the comprehensive transition and postsecondary program scholarship program. Senate subcommittee recommends passage.
• HF2505 - relating to requirements related to mandatory reporters, the department of education, school districts, and accredited nonpublic schools, and the responsibilities and membership of the board of educational examiners. House Ways and Means subcommittee recommends passage. 
• HSB672 - establishing a student first scholarship program and a student first enrollment supplement fund, requiring the boards of directors of school districts to publish certain specified information, modifying provisions related to required social studies instruction, open enrollment, teacher librarian endorsements, competent private instruction, and special education. House subcommittee recommends passage. 
• HF2080 - relating to the administration of certain physical examinations and student health screenings by school districts, charter schools, or innovation zone schools. Passed the Senate by a vote of 47-0, moves to the House. 
• SF2197 - providing for the establishment of a task force related to special education support for students at nonpublic schools.  House subcommittee recommends passage.
• SF2356 - authorizing the boards of directors of school districts to engage certain specified individuals to serve without compensation as substitute teachers. House subcommittee recommends passage.
• SF2357 - relating to voting during meetings of the boards of directors of school districts and including effective date provisions. Passed the Senate by a vote of 48-0, moves to the House.
• SF2359 - directing the department of education to convene a working group to study the impact of technology on the cognitive function of students. Passed the Senate by a vote of 46-0, moves to the House. 
• SF2362 - relating to entities supported in whole or in part by public moneys, including the sale of public bonds, the duties and responsibilities of school boards, school districts, the department of education, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and children’s residential facilities. House subcommittee recommends passage. 

We are now one week away from the second funnel on March 18. By this date, most bills need to be out of committee in the opposite chamber from which they were introduced (i.e., House bills out of Senate committee, Senate bills out of House committee) in order to remain eligible for consideration going forward. Neither the House or Senate education committees held meetings this week, but next week the House is scheduled to meet twice - on Tuesday and Thursday morning - and the Senate once - on Thursday morning. It will be interesting to see how the timing of these committees impacts the bills that will be considered and the daily debate calendars - especially toward the end of the week. 

We’ll cover all that next week. Until then, I encourage you to utilize the bill tracker on the Department’s website, and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Eric St Clair
Legislative Liaison
Iowa Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
400 E 14th St
Des Moines, IA 50319-0146
Cell: 515-729-0859
eric.stclair@iowa.gov