Iowa
Starting teacher salary in Iowa would rise to $50,000 per year under bill passed by the House
Kim Reynolds unveils plan to overhaul Iowa’s Area Education Agencies
Gov. Kim Reynolds says Iowa’s Area Education Agencies need to be overhauled to give school districts more control over special education services.
Special to the Register
Starting teachers would be paid a minimum of $47,500 next year and $50,000 the following year under a bill that passed the Iowa House Thursday with bipartisan support.
The bill, House File 2630, also sets aside $14 million to allow schools to pay paraeducators and other school staff a minimum wage of $15 per hour. And it provides $22 million for schools to use to increase experienced teachers’ salaries.
Gov. Kim Reynolds jump-started the conversation about teacher pay when she proposed a $50,000 starting salary for teachers in her Condition of the State address. Under current law, teachers in Iowa make a minimum salary of $33,500.
The bill’s floor manager, Rep. Bill Gustoff, R-Des Moines, said the legislation amounts to “the largest single boost to teacher pay in the history of the state.”
“The bill achieves a significant goal set forth by Gov. Reynolds to move Iowa’s minimum starting teacher salary to $50,000 and I thank her for setting a bold target that will vault Iowa to the top of the list to attract teachers in terms of pay,” Gustoff said.
More: Kim Reynolds proposes in annual speech to boost Iowa teacher pay, overhaul AEAs, cut taxes
Lawmakers voted 92-1 to pass House File 2630, sending it to the Iowa Senate for consideration. Rep. Mark Cisneros, R-Muscatine, was the only no vote.
The bill is part of a larger negotiation between House and Senate Republicans as they seek to reach an agreement over a school funding increase for the upcoming school year as well as a deal to restructure how Iowa’s Area Education Agencies offer special education and other services to students with disabilities and school districts.
The House already passed its version of legislation changing how the AEAs offer services. The Senate was set to take up its own bill on Tuesday, but Republican leadership pulled the measure from the debate calendar at the last minute.
The Senate’s AEA legislation would increase the minimum starting teacher pay go $46,250.
More: Iowa House passes GOP plan to change AEA education services and school contracts
House Democrats praised House Republicans for considering the teacher pay legislation separately, rather than including it in the same bill as the AEA restructuring that Reynolds and Senate Republicans have proposed. Democrats and many education groups have fiercely opposed the AEA changes.
“We are able to send a bipartisan message to the Senate and to the governor to tell them that the House of Representatives is united in support of paying our teachers, paying our educators, paying our paraprofessionals in a way that is nonpoliticized, that is independent and that is good for Iowa kids,” said House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights.
Des Moines Register reporter Galen Bacharier contributed reporting.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
Iowa
Iowa woman charged with numerous counts of child endangerment, animal neglect pleads guilty
WASHINGTON, Iowa (KCRG) – A Washington, Iowa, woman has pleaded guilty to several charges, including child endangerment, after police said they found dead animals and black mold in the home where she and four children were living.
A criminal complaint says the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services conducted a welfare check on the living conditions of four minor children at a home in the 600 block of South Marion Avenue on Dec. 13, 2024.
Police said Teresa Richmond, the children’s maternal grandmother, was living at the home at the time, and told officers she is a caretaker for the children.
Following the welfare check, police conducted a search warrant on Dec. 20, 2024.
During the search, police found 24 live dogs, five live cats and three dead animals (one dog, one hedgehog and a bearded dragon).
Officers said there was urine and fecal matter throughout the home, and black mold in the basement due to a broken sewer pipe.
According to law enforcement, all the living animals were in poor condition, and Richmond was unable to provide proof of Rabies Vaccination for one of the dogs.
Richmond was charged with four counts of Child Endangerment, seven counts of Animal Neglect, three counts of Failure to Provide Current Rabies Vaccination, and three counts of Failure to Dispose of a Deceased Animal.
Court documents filed on Thursday say the court accepted Richmond’s guilty plea to one charge of failure to dispose of a dead animal. The two other charges of failure to dispose of a dead animal have been dropped.
The court also accepted her guilty plea to three of the animal neglect charges and one of the rabies vaccination violations. The rest were dismissed. The court also accepted her plea of guilty to the child endangerment charges.
A sentencing hearing is set for March 13.
Two other adults were also charged in relation to this case. John Zaiss, 35, and Heather Egbert, 37, were charged with four counts of child endangerment each.
Paws and More, a Washington County animal shelter, took in the surviving animals following the arrests of Zaiss and Egbert.
The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services took in the four children that were found at the home.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa
Iowa driver’s licenses, ID cards would have to display citizenship status under House bill
Top 5 issues shaping the 2025 Iowa Legislature
Discover the top five issues the Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature could tackle in 2025.
Iowa driver’s licenses and nonoperator ID cards would be required to state whether the holder is a U.S. citizen under a bill being considered in the Iowa House.
A three-member subcommittee voted 2-1 Wednesday to advance House Study Bill 37, sending it to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.
Under the bill, the information displayed on a driver’s license or nonoperator ID would have to specify someone’s “status as a citizen of the United States or status as a noncitizen authorized to be in the United States.”
The person’s citizenship status would be displayed on the back of the driver’s license or ID card.
Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, said the bill was drafted with the intention of making sure only citizens can vote in elections in Iowa.
“We have every right as a state to ensure that only citizens are voting in our elections and we think that at this time this might be the right path,” he said. “We’ll have discussions and see if there’s a different path.”
Rep. Lindsay James, D-Dubuque, said driver’s licenses are used for more than voting and she’s concerned that putting a specific marker on the license could create an opening for discrimination.
“We’ve already heard that folks are using their driver’s license when they are renting cars, when they are purchasing things in a store, and the potential for discrimination when you have a unique identifier is significant,” she said.
It is a felony for a noncitizen to vote in Iowa under state and federal law. Iowa voters in November also amended the state’s constitution to include language saying that “only a citizen of the United States” can vote.
Weeks before the 2024 election, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said he was instructing county auditors to challenge the ballots of 2,176 Iowans who he identified as potential noncitizens based on self-reported Department of Transportation data when Iowans applied for a license or other ID.
A statewide review from the Des Moines Register found that nearly 600 people on Pate’s list tried to vote in the election.
Of those, 506 proved they were citizens and successfully cast a ballot, while 74 had their absentee ballots rejected primarily because they did not provide proof of citizenship.
What did the public say about the bill requiring citizenship information on driver’s licenses?
Some speakers at Wednesday’s subcommittee meeting said they believe the bill would help make Iowa’s elections secure, while others said it singles out immigrants for discrimination.
Lori Stiles, a poll worker from Johnston and volunteer with the election transparency group Iowa Canvassing Volunteers, said the legislation “would help with securing our elections.”
“This designation or some such on a driver’s license would definitely help to identify people who are U.S. citizens,” she said. “Because only U.S. citizens should be voting in U.S. elections.”
Storm O’Brink, a North Liberty resident who works in social services, said the bill singles out immigrant families who are already afraid, “regardless of what their legal status is.”
“I am hopeful that you will hear me today about this,” O’Brink said. “There are people terrified and you can’t just do another thing to single them out in our state.”
Monty Montero-Elliott of Iowa City, whose father was a longtime green card holder from Spain, said the bill “puts a lot of people, frankly, in danger of scrutiny.”
“I think that this is a pointless thing to put on an ID card,” Montero-Elliott said. “I don’t see what it has to do with things that you use your ID for like getting a hotel reservation or renting a car or being able to buy alcohol or anything that you have to show an age ID for.”
Connie Ryan, executive director of Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, said the bill doesn’t fix the problem that the information about someone’s citizenship status could be out of date.
“I worry about people who aren’t yet citizens but are going through the process and they have to put that on their driver’s license and then we’re using those lists for voting,” she said. “And so there’s nothing that indicates when those lists are updated and whether or not they’re accurate.”
The bill does not require Iowans to update their driver’s license or ID if their citizenship status changes.
“That’s certainly something were going to have to walk through and talk through,” Wheeler said. “I would assume, if you’re naturalized obviously you’re going to make sure you have that updated.”
Republicans indicate driver’s license bill could see changes
Rep. Craig Williams, R-Manning, who sat on the subcommittee, said he doesn’t see the bill as discriminatory.
“I think this has some work to be done,” he said. “I’m not opposed to it and I would vote to push it forward.”
Wheeler said he’s open to hearing feedback if people have suggestions to improve the bill. He said House Republicans will continue having conversations about which direction they want the legislation to go.
“This is kind of in the, obviously, the very early stages, and people will come with different ideas,” he said. “Maybe they don’t think it’s the best idea, and they’ll look a different way. Maybe they think it’s a great idea. We have yet to have that conversation on a grand scale.”
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.
Iowa
Lawmakers scrutinize DEI, transparency issues in series of higher education bills • Iowa Capital Dispatch
In the last of several higher education subcommittees Wednesday, Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, shared a personal story of discrimination he experienced in order to explain why the tenets of diversity, equity and inclusion matter.
After writing a letter to the editor in response to a visit from President Donald Trump, Wilburn said he received death threats from a woman in Des Moines, saying he should be lynched and calling him the N-word. He asked the crowd of people at the meeting to think about his experience when they think about diversity, equity and inclusion and its importance.
“This notion that it doesn’t matter, that we are excluding others, that people in this limited definition of diversity … need to get over it or (are) given some advantage, I just encourage you to consider the experience I shared,” Wilburn said.
Members of the Iowa House Higher Education Committee heard from lobbyists and members of the public Wednesday on a number of bills relating to the courses and information within state universities, as well as the bodies that regulate them. Diversity, equity and inclusion was a much-discussed topic among visitors and lawmakers.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
House Study Bill 53 would require the Iowa Board of Regents to craft a policy stating no state university can require students to enroll in diversity, equity and inclusion or critical race theory courses, and no one can require, encourage or otherwise incentivize faculty to participate in similar practices or offer corresponding content in their classes.
Exemptions can be granted in instances where these topics are included in a course that clearly identifies itself as being about gender, race or ethnic studies.
The legislation saw opposition from many of those who spoke during public comments, listing reasons of restricting academic freedom, limiting students’ ability to learn concepts and gain skills that would help them with cultural competency, and creating a culture of fear of what is allowed to be said on campus.
Wilburn emphasized that the bill does not bar any type of instruction, but rather its requirement or encouragement for students to take, and added that legislation using the “limited” definition of diversity, equity and inclusion causes a lot of frustration and anger.
These terms mean that all cultures, faiths and political backgrounds are embraced, he said.
The Iowa Board of Regents and others voiced their support for the bill, with State Relations Officer Jillian Carlson saying it reflects legislation passed last year and the current trends seen in the federal government.
Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison and Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, supported the bill and moved it forward to be considered in committee. Both expressed their apologies during the meeting for what Wilburn experienced, and Wheeler said there needs to be ways to unite people, but not through DEI.
“Racists exist and they suck,” Wheeler said. “The problem with all of this is there is zero proof that this is helping make people less racist. There’s actually a lot of people out there arguing it’s doing the opposite of that.”
Holt echoed Wheeler’s statement, adding that the American people seem to be sick of “tolerating what divides us,” which is what he said DEI programs are doing. Courses and activities involving DEI indoctrinate people to the idea of looking at everyone through the lens of race, he said, which he called “Marxist” and “destructive.”
“I proudly advance this legislation, and I would give a word of caution to our regents universities,” Holt said. “I’m really glad to hear you’re supporting it, because it’s going to be done one way or another — the easy way or the hard way.”
House Study Bill 57 would bar accrediting bodies from taking “adverse action” against community colleges and universities for complying with or refusing to violate state law, and allowing institutions to take civil action against accreditors who have violated this with the authorization of the attorney general.
People speaking during public comment were largely against the bill, with One Iowa Director of Policy and Advocacy Keenan Crow saying it is a bad solution to the problem of having state laws that violate accreditation standards that should be fixed another way. Iowa Board of Regents Chief Government Relations Officer Keith Saunders, however, said the board was in support of the legislation.
Wilburn opposed the bill as well. He said he was concerned that students graduating from accredited private universities could have an advantage over those from public universities in getting a job, and he was unsure how the state could hold a national, non-governmental body accountable for removing accreditation from a school that violates its policies.
Subcommittee chair Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, and Collins supported the bill and advanced it to the full House Higher Education Committee.
“I think it’s important to note that the Board of Regents is supporting this bill, and I think it’s important that the Legislature ultimately has the final say when it comes to these matters, not an unelected, unaccountable accreditor outside of the state of Iowa,” Collins said.
Making syllabus, financial information public
Two pieces of legislation passed out of subcommittee Wednesday related to making certain information at public universities available to the public, including syllabi and financial data.
House Study Bill 55 would require universities post to online the syllabi for each undergraduate credit course they offer, including the instructor’s name and information on course material, recommended readings and lecture descriptions, among other things.
Subcommittee member Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport, said a syllabus is not a legal document, nor is it something that sets courses in stone. It is an “agreement between the student and instructor, she said, that lays out an outline of the course and how they will be assessed.
Kurth agreed with a member of the public’s comments that people who aren’t involved in higher education could go looking for pieces of syllabi to take out of context and make “ a big deal about something they don’t really know a lot about,” she said.
Subcommittee chair Rep. Heather Hora, R-Washington, and member Collins supported the bill and passed it forward to be considered in committee. Collins called the legislation “common sense,” and said making syllabi available publicly is something that should already be in practice.
“As far as the cost and the burden of doing it, perhaps (universities) could allocate part of the over half a billion dollars we appropriate to the universities or the millions to be saved from DEI … to support these efforts,” Collins said.
House Study Bill 59 would require state universities to post financial information online, like budgets items, expenditures and vendor contracts that equate to $1,000 or more. Salary reports and administrative unit budgets must also be published, as well as “information on expenditures for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and similar commitments,” according to the bill.
Information restricted from being public by state or federal law would be redacted, the bill stated.
Carolann Jensen, Iowa Board of Regents state relations officer representing Iowa State University, said during the subcommittee meeting the Iowa Board of Regents has submitted suggestions for amendments to the bill, including raising the cited dollar amount from $1,000 to $100,000 and changing definitions listed in the legislation.
Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham, said the Legislature and the board of regents should be able to come to a nice middle ground between those two numbers, and he and Collins approved it to move ahead to the full House Higher Education committee. Kurth said she would oppose the bill until further information gathering and conversations can be had.
“I think there’s a lot of good direction on this bill (with) information that would help the public and give us just more transparency on institutions,” Shipley said.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the naming of Rep. Skyler Wheeler when referencing House Study Bill 53.
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