Iowa Association of Christian Schools

The Public Policy Voice of Iowa's Protestant, Christ-Centered Schools.

We are the public policy voice of
Iowa's Protestant, Christ-centered schools.

IACS Supported Bills Advance

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Today in the Iowa House, a number of bills supported by IACS cleared hurdles and advanced to the next stage of the legislative process.

House File 2090 (Education Savings Accounts) passed out of subcommittee today and will move to the full Education Committee in the House.  This bill has significant opposition from public school groups and we urge you to keep an eye open for a call-to-action very soon.  Be sure to sign up for our email list to ensure you get the action alert as soon as it comes out.

Today in the Education Committee, the following IACS-supported bills passed out of Committee and will now be eligible for debate on the floor of the House:
HF 559 (This bill corrects the nonpublic start date waiver issue created in last year’s ed reform bill and addresses the counting of days in the case of early outs or late starts for emergencies or inclement weather)
HSB 562 (Transitional Coaching Authorization – makes it easier to hire coaches)

We’ll do our best to keep you in the loop on bills that impact your school.  Please feel free to peruse the list of bills on the DE website and let us know if you have questions or concerns about any  listed.

Education Savings Account Legislation Introduced!

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For the first time in the Iowa House, Education Savings Account (ESA) legislation has been introduced!

House File 2090 would authorize the state to fund Education Savings Accounts for each student outside of the public school system. The amount would be the average basic state aid for public school students, this year about $5,580.  Those funds can cover private school tuition and fees, and/or some private instruction, tutoring, and educational therapies. We believe this proposal offers true freedom of choice in education to all families.

You can learn more about this unique school choice concept and how it would work by watching Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education’s (Iowa ACE) YouTube video on ESAs.  Iowa ACE will be leading the charge on this legislation and we’ll be with them every step of the way.

Rep. Chris Hagenow (R-Windsor Heights), Rep. Jake Highfill (R-Johnston) and Rep. Peter Cownie (R-West Des Moines) have sponsored the bill.  Please be sure to sign up for our email list and we’ll keep you in the loop on the latest news and calls-to-action.

Governor Branstad Signs School Choice Week Proclamation

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The Iowa Association of Christian Schools was proud to have representation at the this year’s signing of the School Choice Week Proclamation.  Proclamations are a way for Governors to honor and/or celebrate issues or events and distribute important information and concepts to Iowans.

School Choice Week Proclamation

Governor Terry Branstad signs this year’s School Choice Week Proclamation

The last couple of years have seen School Choice Week and Catholic Schools Week fall on the same week.  This signing ceremony saw the signing of both proclamations.  We had students and staff from Des Moines Christian School and Iowa Christian Academy as well as representation from the Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education and its sister organization, Iowa Advocates for Choice in Education.

Thank you, Governor Branstad, for recognizing the importance of school choice in Iowa and helping us celebrate the accomplishments to this point in giving parents and students more options in education.  We firmly believe that a child’s education should never be limited by their income or zip code of residence.  We are looking forward to working with Governor Branstad and leaders from both parties on advancing school choice in Iowa.

You can read Iowa School Choice Week ’14.

Independent Accreditation Rules

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Just FYI – The Legislature’s Administrative Rules Committee posted the rules the State Board of Education recently passed. We see not problem with these rules going through the Admin Rules Committee. These are the over-arching rules. Procedures, forms, and other details will be created by the Dept. of Ed very shortly.

ARC 0964C — Independent accrediting agencies

School Start Date Developments

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Many have asked about the school start date issue and the rule that has been working its way through the Dept. of Ed and State Board of Education. Here is a brief update:

First, IACS has always opposed every effort to restrict local control of start dates.  IACS believes that educators, elected school boards, and private schools should be able to make these types of determinations based on what’s best for students, schedules, and unique local issues.  No industry group or event should be able to make education policy decisions based on attendance goals or desired profit-margins.

On August 1, the State Board of Education made the wise decision to vote down a proposed rule that the Department wrote to try to bridge the gap between how some interpret the law and educators.  This rule unfairly discriminated against private schools by excluding them from the waiver process and went too far in restricting local control on this issue.  You can click here for the story on the Board’s decision.  We thank them for their vote!

Where do we go from here?  Governor Branstad weighed in on the issue on August 5 and we agree with him that stakeholders need to be involved.  IACS will not, however, support any rule or legislation that puts the wants of industry ahead of the needs of our kids or continues the disturbing trend toward erasing local control or the will of the people as exercised through the decisions of elected local school boards or the administration at their private school.

Please feel free to comment with your thoughts!