(Des Moines) Iowa District 20 Representative Ray Sorensen of Greenfield says Funnel week came to an end on Friday, and now the work towards the second funnel in a couple of weeks. Funnel week is a self-imposed deadline for each session which means all bills must be voted out of their Senate and House committees and sent to each full chamber. Bills that don’t make it out of committee are essentially dead, meaning legislators won’t have an opportunity to vote on them. , there are ways that bills can come back from the “dead,” in the form of amendments and standing apropos, etc.
Sorensen passed his Seizure Safe School Bill out of committee. This bill would require training to recognize the signs of seizure disorders and at least one employee to be trained in administering seizure medications. There are 40 different types of seizures, and one in 10 Americans will experience a seizure in their lifetime. This is a bill that has successfully passed in five other states and is running in 20 others.
The Governor’s Education bill, SF 159, was broken up into a few different bills. First, HSB 243, the student’s first scholarship, or “vouchers,” didn’t have the support to move out of committee.
Next, HSB 242, the Charter Schools bill, passed out of committee. It allows for creating a public charter school through two models, a school board or a founding group. Both approaches use the same rigorous application process and are accountable to the state board of education, ensuring they adhere to public school guidelines. These schools would not be able to “pick the cream of the crop”; it would be a first-come-first-serve basis. It passed, but there is work to be done to improve the community support and local accountability pieces; if that isn’t addressed, it may not make it off the floor.
The other piece of the Governor’s bill, HSB 240, increases the teacher tax deduction from $250 to $500 and increases the education tax credit from 25% of the first $1000 to 25% of the first $2000 spent on education-related expenses like tuition and textbooks. The bill removed the mandate for a single statewide student information system.
Another high-profile education bill, preventing the 1619 Project from being taught in history class, failed to gain support. The bill was a specific attempt to stop it from being taught in history class (as it is littered with historical errors and inaccuracies), but not entirely; a teacher would’ve been able to teach it in a literature or reading class.
