This Week at the Statehouse – Week 15

This week was a short week at the Iowa Capitol. Most lawmakers went home on Wednesday as the legislative leaders and Governor continue to meet behind closed doors trying to come to an agreement on their tax reform bill. Once that is hammered out, the fiscal year 2019 (FY 19) budget should fall into place. 

Both the House and Senate have released their FY 19 budget targets this week. They are within $5 million overall. For the education budget subcommittee, which provides the state appropriations for UNI’s operating budget, the Senate’s target is $2 million higher than the House. Besides the Regents universities, this budget provides state appropriations to community colleges, the Iowa Department of Education, College Student Aid Commission, Iowa Public Television, Vocational Rehabilitation and the Iowa Department of the Blind.

Tuesday was the last scheduled day so the 2018 Legislative Session is now in overtime. This also means the lawmakers no longer receive their daily per diems. Most of the high school pages have returned their home towns and all the legislative clerks are finished for the session.  The House and Senate are scheduled to return to Des Moines on Monday at 1:00 pm. The end of session could be next week or the following week.

In the meantime, the Governor signed the following bills of interest this week:

SF 475 – Provides several changes to Department of Education requirements. Contained in the bill is a provision that requires a financial literacy course for all high school students before they graduate, starting July 1, 2019. The bill also allows all of Iowa’s 333 school districts to have an online program. The Senate floor manager stated during debate that their intent is to amend the financial literacy language in the standings budget bill later this session.

SF 2318 - Relates to the issuance of high school credit for satisfactory completion of high school-level units of instruction.

SF 2360 – Creates a Dyslexia Task Force. Over the next 18 months the task force is to come up with recommendations relating to dyslexia response to be provided to the Governor and Legislature. The recommendations must include student screening, interventions, teacher preparation and professional development, classroom accommodations, and assistive technology. UNI is in a great position to provide valuable expertise on this task force as we graduate the most teachers each year.