Several Education-Related Measures Combined Into One Omnibus Package

(Radio Iowa) A House committee has combined several education-related measures into one 38-page bill and it includes some of Governor Kim Reynolds’ proposals.

The bill would prohibit instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through sixth-grade classrooms. It says books with graphic descriptions of sex acts must be removed from public school libraries. It also specifies that a school administrator would have to notify a parent if a student asks to be known by a different name or pronoun at school. New, quicker routes for getting a teaching license are included and the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners would be changed if the bill becomes law, so parents make up half of the board’s members. Some of these proposals were separate bills already cleared the House. They are now added onto a Senate-passed bill and the package is eligible for debate in the full House this week.