More wingnut made up controversies to deprive Iowans of their rights and cast public schools as dens of iniquity:
Iowa lawmakers are a step closer to passing an education bill restricting explicit school library books and LGBTQ topics in elementary classrooms, trying to reach a compromise to put the measure on Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk.
Both House and Senate lawmakers have been weighing different education bills since the earliest days of the legislative session, and House lawmakers Tuesday passed their latest version. Based on a bill originally proposed by Reynolds, Senate File 496 hits some of the top priorities Republicans have outlined this year in education regulation and transparency.
The Senate passed the bill last month, and the House made several changes before passing it Tuesday. The bill passed the House 55-42, with six Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition.
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Reynolds said Tuesday she wants to let the lawmaking process play out before throwing her support behind the final measure. The Senate will need to pass the amended bill before it goes to Reynolds’ desk for a signature.
“The Senate has weighed in, the House has weighed in,” she said. “...We’ll see if they’re able to get it through both chambers with the same language and then to my desk. And we’ll do a review of the bill at that point and make a decision on how we move forward.”
A spokesperson for Republican Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver declined to comment Tuesday.
Here are five things to know about the bill as it heads back to the Senate for approval:
One thing that has remained mostly constant between the competing proposals is a ban on teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Democrats have argued the restriction would hamstring teachers’ abilities to teach about LGBTQ figures in history or prevent teachers and students from sharing information about their families if they involve a same-sex couple. But Republicans say the topics are not appropriate for elementary students.
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“We once again require teachers to betray the trust of their students, to pretend that gay parents do not exist, and to shut down student inquiry,” said Rep. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City.
Under the Senate proposal, school employees would have to report if they “reasonably believed” a student was expressing a gender identity different from the sex assigned at birth.
But under the language the House passed, that process would be more formalized. If a student requests to be called by a different name or pronouns by an educator, that employee would need to notify an administrator, who would have to notify the student’s parents. An option to refer the case to the Department of Health and Human Services if a school thought a child would be in danger from informing parents was removed.
Republicans say the proposal will give parents important information about their children’s health and well-being. But opponents say outing students to their parents could put them in harm’s way from parents that do not accept their gender identity.
“Parents need to have confidence that the school is not going to hide vital information from them about their children,” Republican Rep. Skyler Wheeler of Hull said. “Schools do not have a right to keep secrets from parents as a general rule.”
As originally proposed, the governor’s bill would have set up a statewide list of books that have been removed from a school library. If a book were removed in one school, students would have needed parents’ permission to check it out in any other school in the state.
But Senate lawmakers last month changed the bill to match a previous House bill, which would bar books that included depictions of a defined list of sex acts from school libraries. The new House language adds the word “graphic” to the section, barring “graphic” depictions or descriptions of sex acts.
Education and LGBTQ activists criticized the original wording in earlier hearings, saying it was broad enough to ban classic literature like “Brave New World” and “The Canterbury Tales.” But some Democrats contended Tuesday the wording is subjective and would still remove choice from parents and students to read what they want in the school library.
Responding to those criticisms, Wheeler read off the list of acts the bill would prohibit from being described in school library books, arguing it would not prohibit those classics.
“It’s pretty bad when some of these parents come home with books that are literally pornography,” he said. “And have graphic — literally what’s in our bill — graphic depictions of sex acts.”
The amended bill is more than twice the size of the original because of a number of other education measures House lawmakers added.
One of those additions would alter the makeup of the state Board of Educational Examiners, which establishes licensing criteria for Iowa teachers.
The bill would change the makeup to include five teachers, five parents with children currently or recently in school and one school administrator. Democratic Rep. Sue Cahill of Marshalltown said the change would remove expertise and accountability from the board.
“This (allows) a near-majority of the board who have no expertise in school policies, procedures and the nuances of education required to conduct the education system, except as an outsider,” Cahill said. “This is egregious to me.”
Republicans supported the measure as a way to give members of the public a larger say in teacher licensing.
Some other measures wrapped into the larger bill include:
•Creating an alternative teacher licensing process
•Allowing parents to move students between school buildings in the same district
•Establishing “seizure safe schools” that, among other things, train staff to deal with students with epilepsy.
The bill includes a number of measures intended to increase transparency, requiring schools to post procedures for parents or residents of the school district to request the removal of books or materials used in the classroom or library.
Parents and residents of the district could also request a copy of and review classroom materials, and request that their children not be provided with certain materials.
Schools would also need to obtain parents’ consent before administering surveys that ask about mental or psychological problems, sexual behavior and political affiliation, among other topics.
www.thegazette.com
Iowa lawmakers are a step closer to passing an education bill restricting explicit school library books and LGBTQ topics in elementary classrooms, trying to reach a compromise to put the measure on Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk.
Both House and Senate lawmakers have been weighing different education bills since the earliest days of the legislative session, and House lawmakers Tuesday passed their latest version. Based on a bill originally proposed by Reynolds, Senate File 496 hits some of the top priorities Republicans have outlined this year in education regulation and transparency.
The Senate passed the bill last month, and the House made several changes before passing it Tuesday. The bill passed the House 55-42, with six Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition.
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Reynolds said Tuesday she wants to let the lawmaking process play out before throwing her support behind the final measure. The Senate will need to pass the amended bill before it goes to Reynolds’ desk for a signature.
“The Senate has weighed in, the House has weighed in,” she said. “...We’ll see if they’re able to get it through both chambers with the same language and then to my desk. And we’ll do a review of the bill at that point and make a decision on how we move forward.”
A spokesperson for Republican Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver declined to comment Tuesday.
Here are five things to know about the bill as it heads back to the Senate for approval:
Gender identity, sexual orientation teaching ban
One thing that has remained mostly constant between the competing proposals is a ban on teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Democrats have argued the restriction would hamstring teachers’ abilities to teach about LGBTQ figures in history or prevent teachers and students from sharing information about their families if they involve a same-sex couple. But Republicans say the topics are not appropriate for elementary students.
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“We once again require teachers to betray the trust of their students, to pretend that gay parents do not exist, and to shut down student inquiry,” said Rep. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City.
Reporting a student’s gender identity
Under the Senate proposal, school employees would have to report if they “reasonably believed” a student was expressing a gender identity different from the sex assigned at birth.
But under the language the House passed, that process would be more formalized. If a student requests to be called by a different name or pronouns by an educator, that employee would need to notify an administrator, who would have to notify the student’s parents. An option to refer the case to the Department of Health and Human Services if a school thought a child would be in danger from informing parents was removed.
Republicans say the proposal will give parents important information about their children’s health and well-being. But opponents say outing students to their parents could put them in harm’s way from parents that do not accept their gender identity.
“Parents need to have confidence that the school is not going to hide vital information from them about their children,” Republican Rep. Skyler Wheeler of Hull said. “Schools do not have a right to keep secrets from parents as a general rule.”
Books with 'graphic' sex acts banned from libraries
As originally proposed, the governor’s bill would have set up a statewide list of books that have been removed from a school library. If a book were removed in one school, students would have needed parents’ permission to check it out in any other school in the state.
But Senate lawmakers last month changed the bill to match a previous House bill, which would bar books that included depictions of a defined list of sex acts from school libraries. The new House language adds the word “graphic” to the section, barring “graphic” depictions or descriptions of sex acts.
Education and LGBTQ activists criticized the original wording in earlier hearings, saying it was broad enough to ban classic literature like “Brave New World” and “The Canterbury Tales.” But some Democrats contended Tuesday the wording is subjective and would still remove choice from parents and students to read what they want in the school library.
Responding to those criticisms, Wheeler read off the list of acts the bill would prohibit from being described in school library books, arguing it would not prohibit those classics.
“It’s pretty bad when some of these parents come home with books that are literally pornography,” he said. “And have graphic — literally what’s in our bill — graphic depictions of sex acts.”
New measures being added
The amended bill is more than twice the size of the original because of a number of other education measures House lawmakers added.
One of those additions would alter the makeup of the state Board of Educational Examiners, which establishes licensing criteria for Iowa teachers.
The bill would change the makeup to include five teachers, five parents with children currently or recently in school and one school administrator. Democratic Rep. Sue Cahill of Marshalltown said the change would remove expertise and accountability from the board.
“This (allows) a near-majority of the board who have no expertise in school policies, procedures and the nuances of education required to conduct the education system, except as an outsider,” Cahill said. “This is egregious to me.”
Republicans supported the measure as a way to give members of the public a larger say in teacher licensing.
Some other measures wrapped into the larger bill include:
•Creating an alternative teacher licensing process
•Allowing parents to move students between school buildings in the same district
•Establishing “seizure safe schools” that, among other things, train staff to deal with students with epilepsy.
Transparency measures
The bill includes a number of measures intended to increase transparency, requiring schools to post procedures for parents or residents of the school district to request the removal of books or materials used in the classroom or library.
Parents and residents of the district could also request a copy of and review classroom materials, and request that their children not be provided with certain materials.
Schools would also need to obtain parents’ consent before administering surveys that ask about mental or psychological problems, sexual behavior and political affiliation, among other topics.
Lawmakers zero in on limiting LGBTQ topics and library books
Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday she wants to let the lawmaking process play out before throwing her support behind the final measure.
www.thegazette.com
