Education
Dems protest GOP’s choice of lawmaker who cast doubt on school shootings for education panel
WASHINGTON — House Democrats are denouncing GOP leaders for tapping Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to serve on the Education and Labor Committee, amid a growing outcry over the Georgia Republican’s past comments challenging the veracity of deadly school shootings. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it “appalling” that Republicans selected someone who “has mocked the killing […]
Reynolds signs bill requiring all schools to offer 100% in-person attendance
Gov Kim Reynolds on Friday signed her first bill of the 2021 legislative session, giving Iowa school districts until Feb. 15 to offer a choice of 100% in-person class attendance to students. Reynolds proposed the bill in her Condition of the State message Jan. 12 after hearing from parents around the state who worried about […]
Legislature moves to require schools to offer 100% in-person classes
Iowa schools must offer 100% in-person instruction under a bill passed by the Iowa Legislature on Thursday. Senate File 160 gives Iowa schools two weeks after enactment to develop a 100% in-person option for students. Parents can decide to send their children back to school full-time or remain in a hybrid or online program. The […]
Senate narrowly approves bill expanding school options
After a sometimes emotional debate, the Iowa Senate on Thursday narrowly approved Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to expand state support for certain students who want to attend a nonpublic or charter school or transfer to a different public district. The Senate approved Senate Filed 159 on a 26-21 vote. It needed 26 votes to pass. […]
Lawmakers consider including ‘political ideology’ under Iowa Civil Rights Act
Iowa Republican lawmakers say they are confronting “cancel culture” with a proposal to make political ideology a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights Act. “The woke culture philosophy of intolerance and hatred, of demanding all must agree, I think is profoundly dangerous and disturbing in our country,” Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison said. “That is […]
Senate committee approves family, educator tax credits in charter school bill
Teachers and parents of homeschool students would be eligible for additional tax credits under a bill advancing in the Iowa Senate this week. Senate File 159 proposes a scholarship fund for students in some of Iowa’s public schools to attend charter or private schools instead. The bill would also allow charter schools to start independently […]
Lawmakers advance governor’s plan to expand state support for non-public schools
Schools would have to offer full-time, in-person instruction and the state would financially support more options for students to attend private schools if two bills that advanced in the Iowa Senate Monday become law. Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, identified both issues as priorities for the legislative session. Senate Study Bill 1064 would require schools […]
Report: One in five college-bound students in Iowa don’t enroll immediately
One in five Iowa high-school students who intend to enroll in college immediately after graduation don’t follow through, Iowa College Aid reports. A new report relates to one of the top priorities of Iowa’s state government and some of the state’s most prominent business groups. Gov. Kim Reynolds and state lawmakers have steadily expanded the […]
Let’s not get fooled again: Fight the lies by learning to recognize the truth
We have a crisis of credulity in this country. We’ve become a nation of dupes. The inability of far too many Americans to separate fact from fantasy, and the people who are eager to take advantage of that failure, are the root of the rot in our country. The consequences, long evident, should now be […]
Iowa school districts to lawmakers: Don’t penalize us for COVID-19 enrollment losses
Education advocates are calling on the Iowa Legislature to hold school districts that lost enrollment due to COVID-19 financially harmless. Iowa’s public schools experienced a 1.2% reduction in enrollment, totaling nearly 6,000 students in fall 2020 as families chose to send their kids to private school or keep them at home instead. But the state’s […]
Sioux City charity fires two school-program officials, alleging misuse of taxpayer dollars
Two administrators at a Sioux City charity were fired earlier this year after being accused of misspending federal grant money. State unemployment records indicate that in May, the Siouxland Human Investment Partnership, a tax-exempt charity that provides health and education services to citizens of Woodbury County, fired two of the organization’s directors in its Beyond […]
There’s no justification for government shutting the public out
There are some high-minded legal principles written into Iowa laws and rulings by our state’s Supreme Court. But in recent weeks, one of those sound principles has run into a few closed-minded state officials and the closed doors of government. Some officials prefer to conduct the people’s business without being bothered with having the pesky […]