As Iowa’s DOGE task force considers recommending cuts to public employee compensation and tying school staff pay to student achievement, public workers organizations are rallying for Iowans to speak out […]
Education
Posted inCommunity/News
‘They said they’re going to break our spirits’: Summer campers toiled in the Iowa heat, endured abuse from church leaders at Shiloh
Titus Walker lived in Hawaii, but he flew to rural Iowa for summer camp. Growing up in an insular church community in the 1980s, it was a blast to hang out with kids his age, even if the Young Adult School of Prophets (YASP) wasn’t much of a vacation. “They would take us out into the fields below Shiloh,” the church’s township south of Kalona, Walker recalled. “At the time it was just plagued with these thorny-ass rose bushes. And we would remove rose bushes all day long.”
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House Higher Education Committee approve bill to force private colleges to eliminate DEI programs
Under HSB 60, private universities would be prohibited from starting, maintaining or funding DEI offices unless required by accreditors or by law, with the risk of losing their eligibility to accept […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House Republicans advance bill to extend ban on LGBTQ topics in elementary schools to middle and high schools
The ban on classroom discussions or lessons acknowledging the identity of anyone except straight, cisgendered individuals, imposed by Gov. Reynolds on K-6 Iowa schools in 2023, would be extended to […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa, national conservative leaders talk abortion, school choice at Family Leader event
Iowa and national conservative leaders discussed wins and future goals for issues like abortion and education policy Friday at the Family Leadership Summit, with one of the group’s officials calling […]
Posted inCommunity/News
New report: Iowa drops below Wisconsin, Illinois and Nebraska in education rankings
Iowa scored relatively well in education rankings among the states, but with declining test scores and on-time high school graduation rates decreasing, the state has fallen from its highs of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Rally for ‘honest, inclusive education’ taking place in Iowa City’s College Green Park on Saturday
Art and truth are closely linked for many, so it seems appropriate that as the second day of the Iowa Arts Festival unfolds downtown, there will be an event elsewhere […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Drake University to eliminate three academic programs to aid in balancing budget
Drake University will eliminate three programs as part of efforts to make up budget deficits, the university announced Monday. University President Marty Martin said in a message to campus that […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa lawmakers debate until 2 a.m. in race to finish 2024 legislative session
Iowa lawmakers debated budget bills into the early morning Friday as they aim for the end of session in the coming days. Though legislators spent much of their days in […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Drake University recommends cutting academic programs, positions
Four percent of Drake University students could see their degree programs eliminated under cost-cutting measures recommended by the college to help recoup budget deficits. Drake University Provost Sue Mattison announced […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Dept. of Education doesn’t know how much the new school choice program will cost this year, but it’ll exceed estimates by millions
A total of 18,893 applications for Gov. Reynolds’ new school-voucher-style education savings account (ESA) program were approved this year, the Iowa Department of Education disclosed on Thursday. That’s far more […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Mean-spirited’ bill restricting how teachers can support transgender students moves quickly through Iowa House
On Tuesday afternoon, the three members of an Iowa House subcommittee listened to an hour of testimony on HF 9, a bill aimed at preventing teachers and other school staff […]
