The following is a legislative update from Republican Representative Henry Stone of Forest City, representing portions of Emmet, Kossuth and Winnebago counties in Iowa House District 7:
Funnel week is next week and that means it is very busy here in the Iowa House. Many, many subcommittees are meeting in an effort to get bills moving through committee. I also served on 3 subcommittees this week; all for the Education committee. They were for HF 73, HF 221, and HSB 169. We are all working very hard to make sure things get done this week.
On Tuesday I was able to meet with Ruth Henderson, a long time teacher from West Des Moines. Ruth and I were able to have a good conversation about public education. I enjoy meeting with our educators and hearing their opinions. I think we can all agree the education of young Iowans is important, and we need to work together to make sure they have a quality education.
New Bill Gives Schools More Flexibility
The House Education Committee passed HSB 119, a bill that comes as a collaboration between legislators, the Governor’s office, and superintendents and administrators being asked what could be done to help their schools and allow more flexibility. Some of the highlights are below.
The bill removes the requirement that schools must submit a Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP). This does not mean districts aren’t tracking and reporting what is in that plan, it simply means they don’t have to re-input the same data and submit it again. This helps free up administrative time and resources.
It eliminates the requirement that a school librarian must have a Masters degree and allows a district to employ a librarian who was previously employed by a public library.
The bill allows for up to five school days to be virtual. This would be used for things like snow days, flooding, or other reasons why students cannot be in the physical building.
It also allows more flexibility for teachers when it comes to classroom space by allowing teachers to teach sequential courses in the same classroom whether it’s AP, regular courses, or community college courses as long as they meet the certification requirements.
Additionally:
- The bill removes CPR instruction as a graduation requirement but does not prohibit it.
- It allows those participating in a school-sponsored activity that requires physical activity to be counted towards PE.
- It removes Human Papillomavirus (HPV) instruction and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) instruction as specifically listed under communicable disease instruction and sexually transmitted disease instruction.
The bill does not prohibit instruction about HPV and AIDS. Currently health curriculum must include the characteristics of communicable diseases. HPV and AIDS are communicable diseases and therefore are covered. Previously legislatures had added HPV and AIDS specifically on top of the teaching requirement on communicable diseases.
The world language requirement for schools is dropped from 4 units to 2 units and fine arts is dropped from 3 units to 2 units. Districts are still able to make a local decision to maintain the previous requirement if they so choose. Again, this provides more flexibility for the school.
A Busy Week Awaits the House Judiciary Committee
The House Judiciary Committee continues working through a significant number of bills in preparation for the upcoming funnel deadline. House bills that don’t advance out of a House committee by Friday, March 3rd are dead for the year. Here are a few bills the committee has moved in the past week:
House Study Bill 3- Electronic Signing of Wills
HSB 3 ensures that wills can be signed electronically. The bill also retroactively protects wills drafted and singed electronically in 2020 during the Governor’s emergency declarations.
House File 58- Termination of Parental Rights
If a mother gives up her parental rights and the father later refuses, the mother has 30 days to reassert her rights.
House Study Bill 141- Courts Bill
The bill, proposed by the Judicial branch, addresses several key areas including
- Apportionment of District Associate Judges-this helps spread the workload for DAJ’s
- Limitation of liability- Contracting authority – allows the Courts to contract like other state agencies
- Remote testimony in civil proceedings- allows some remote testimony in civil court proceedings
- Judicial council duties- strikes the requirement for the council to develop best practices for mental health advocates.
- Access to criminal history data- ensures judges and attorneys have access to criminal history data.
This guy having a discussion about education is as funny as it gets, since he has none. He flunked out of high school and eventually became a used car salesman, which he also failed at. He was recruited from the car place by rich NW Iowa Republicans, who bought him phony degrees from phony colleges and universities to buff up his phony resume. He does whatever his rich slave masters tell him, just like Kim Reynolds, Joni Ernst, and Ashley Hinson.
Dropping the foreign language requirement is probably needed as small schools don’t have the teachers to cover 4 units for all students. I do hope that schools keep offering 4 years of foreign language. Fine arts? That is a shame. The better appreciation for the arts a student has, the more well-rounded he or she is. I wonder what Ms Henderson had to say to him. Interesting that he doesn’t say.