This Week at the Statehouse – Week 6
A very successful UNI Day at the Capitol was held this week on Valentine’s Day, February 14. Thank you to all the faculty, staff and students who came to Des Moines to demonstrate exactly what we’re doing and showcase the best UNI has to offer. I heard from so many legislators and lobbyists on what a great day it was, especially the outstanding School of Music quartet. A follow-up video and photos can be found on UNI’s website. Kudos UNI!
Along with the other two Regents universities, President Nook spoke to the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee on Monday about our budget requests for FY 2024 and answered questions from the committee relating to DEI, administrative costs, academic review process and tenure.
Randy Pilkington and Dan Beenken from UNI’s Business and Community Services presented our budget request to the Senate Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday. We are requesting an additional $400,000 to expand the growing Family Business Center and UNI’s Institute for Decision Making.
Bills the Regents are monitoring that had action this week:
New bills for consideration continue to be filed daily. This link will provide a complete list of bills the Board of Regents are tracking (in the box marked as lobbyist, type in Mary Braun).
A few bills we’re tracking that had action this week:
HF 224 TEACHER BACKGROUND CHECKS; NO LICENSE RENEWAL FOR VETERAN TEACHERS. The House Education committee passed this and moved it to the full House for consideration. The bill repeals the license renewal requirement for teachers employed for at least 10 years and who possesses a master’s or doctoral degree, unless the teacher holds an evaluator approval endorsement, which must be renewed at least once every 10 years. The bill requires continuing background checks every five years for teachers who are not subject to these renewal requirements and allows the BOEE to charge a reasonable fee for these background checks. Adds charter schools and private schools to background checks. There is no Senate companion bill.
HF 323 (formerly HSB 111) PAYING STUDENT TEACHERS. The House Education Committee amended and passed HSB 111, which is now HF 323. The bill says school districts "may" pay a student teacher; it is left up to each school district. We applaud the legislature to talk about paying student teachers, especially as more and more states are beginning to do it. However, our concern is about creating a scenario where some districts will offer these incentives and others will not and how this may affect universities placing students. Will those districts that do accept them accept fewer because they won't have the money to pay them all? Will this cause a disparity for our students as some would get paid and others would not? If we cannot place student teachers, they cannot complete their program of study to become a teacher. There is no Senate companion bill.
HF 327 (formerly HSB 119) GOVERNOR EDUCATION BILL – TEACHER LIBRARIANS AND WORLD LANGUAGE. The House Education Committee moved the bill to the full House for consideration. The two provisions we’re following include removing the requirement that teacher librarians have a master’s degree and allows someone who is a public librarian to work in the school without additional training. The second provision changes the state requirement that all K-12 districts are required to offer four years of a world language (e.g. Spanish 1, 2, 3, 4), to two sequential units (e.g. Spanish 1, 2 only). The Senate companion bill is SSB 1076, which is in the Senate Education Committee for consideration.
HSB 144 PUBLIC RECORD REQUESTS. House State Government Committee moved this bill to the full House for consideration. The bill provides that upon receipt of a public records request, the lawful custodian shall promptly provide the lawful custodian’s contact information, approximate date of the records release, and an estimate of any reasonable fees associated with the records request. The Senate companion bill is SF 202, which is on the Senate floor for consideration.
Upcoming Dates
March 3 – First Funnel – Bills not reported out of their originating committee by this date are no longer eligible for consideration (does not apply to budget, tax or oversight bills)
March 31 – Second Funnel – House bills not passed out of Senate committees and Senate bills not passed out of House committees are no longer eligible for consideration (does not apply to budget, tax or oversight bills)
April 28 – 110th Calendar Day (lawmaker per diem expenses end)
If you have any questions, please email me at mary.braun@uni.edu.