It’s World AIDS Day. Since 1988, the first day of December has been recognized as a day on which to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and remember those who died because of the disease. Around the same time World AIDS Day was first commemorated, Iowa began requiring public schools to provide age-appropriate information about HIV/AIDS to […]
Iowa schools
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‘I am not shameful’: Iowa Safe Schools, seven students sue the state over anti-LGBTQ law SF 496
On Tuesday, the ACLU of Iowa and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a nationwide civil rights organization dedicated to defending and advocating for LGBTQ people, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Des Moines challenging SF 496, the education bill signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May. “This is a federal civil […]
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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 than the enrollment estimate provided to lawmakers by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA) when the bill creating the program to divert public school funds […]
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Iowa’s Department of Education has no plans to offer guidance for school districts confused by new book law
Despite widespread confusion over which books are to be banned from schools under a bill Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law in May, the Iowa Department of Education (DOE) has no plans to offer guidance to school districts attempting to implement the law. SF 496 requires schools to remove all books with “descriptions or visual […]
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Gov. Reynolds boasts about her anti-LGBTQ school policies, calls for new law restricting students’ access to books conservatives don’t like
Speaking at a gathering of conservative activists on Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds expressed her opposition to schools offering support to transgender students and called for a new law to restrict student access to books some conservative parents find objectionable. The governor characterized these proposals as part of her agenda of “parental rights,” a term she […]
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Speaker Grassley says the governor’s school voucher program won’t pass this year
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ attempt to pressure the Iowa Legislature into passing a bill that diverted public schools funds to private schools has failed. The governor made the creation of a school voucher program using education savings accounts one of her top legislative priorities this year, but on Monday morning Speaker of the Iowa House Pat […]
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Gov. Reynolds’ bill to divert public school funds to private schools advances in the Iowa House
It was expected that Gov. Kim Reynolds’ bill to divert public school funds to private schools would pass the subcommittee level in the Iowa House on a party-line vote, with both Republicans endorsing it and the one Democrat opposing it. But what wasn’t expected was the first speaker in support of HSB 672 during Tuesday’s […]
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Republican majority on House Education Committee unanimously approves ban on transgender girls in girls’ sports
A bill banning transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports at school passed the Iowa House Education Committee on a party-line vote Monday, with all the committee’s Republicans voting in favor of it and all of its Democrats opposed. HF 2309 would restrict participation on all girls’ sports teams and in all athletic events for […]
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‘We are under spiritual attack’: How Iowa’s anti-mask parents became a GOP force — and why they’re leveraging their power to ban books
This month, central Iowa parents seeking to have books they deem “pornographic” removed from school libraries prepared to kick things up a notch. A few of the parents crafted a letter to send to Polk County Attorney John Sarcone, asking for a criminal investigation of the West Des Moines Community School District. “On a continuous […]
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Gov. Reynolds’ attorneys ask judge to let order allowing school mask mandates expire, claim it’s an ‘undue burden’ on the state
On Friday afternoon, attorneys for Gov. Kim Reynolds filed a challenge to the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pratt on Sept. 13. The TRO prohibits the state from enforcing the new law signed by Reynolds in May that forbid schools and school districts from mandating the use of face […]
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Republican-backed bill allowing charter schools to avoid local oversight goes to the governor’s desk
A bill preempting the authority of local school boards over publicly funded charter schools is going to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk for her signature. Reynolds named this sort of expansion of charter schools in Iowa as one of her top priorities in her Condition of the State speech at the beginning of this year’s legislative […]
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Gov. Reynolds relaxes COVID-19 quarantine guidelines for schools
Iowa schools will no longer be required to follow the CDC’s COVID-19 quarantine guidelines, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced at her news conference on Tuesday. Previously, students and staff who were in close contact with someone who tested positive were supposed to self-quarantine for 14 days. Close contact is defined as being within six feet of […]
