(Greenfield) Iowa House District #23 Representative Ray Sorensen says the 90th Iowa General Assembly pace quickens on policy pieces in each chamber as lawmakers aim for the session’s end on April 28th.
Sorensen says Friday is the final date for Senate bills and joint resolutions to be reported out of House committees and House bills and resolutions out of Senate committees. The following week, April 3rd – 7th, the Senate considers only House bills, joint resolutions, and unfinished business, and the House considers only Senate bills, joint resolutions, and unfinished business.
Representative Sorensen said the House passed HF 604, the teacher empowerment bill, bipartisanly last Wednesday. The Greenfield Republican stated the bill is in direct response to a meeting legislators had with teachers from around the state who asked for help in managing behavior in their classrooms; they spoke about the issues of violence in the classroom, disruptive behaviors, lack of support from the administration, numerous pieces of training they felt were useless, redundant or unnecessary.
Sorensen says multiple teachers have relayed stories of their classrooms being destroyed by out-of-control behavior and getting physically punched or hit. He says according to the Department of Education; there were 63,667 instances of students being removed from classrooms in the 2021-2022 school year. Of those, approximately 36,970, or 58.1%, involved violence or a potential violation of Iowa law. Those are just the numbers that were reported! According to the teachers, they are being told to sweep things under the rug or to keep things to themselves. Which means these numbers may be low.
Representative Sorensen says if violent incidents are not accurately reported, teachers, students, and parents are the ones who suffer the consequences.
