Iowa

Starting teacher salary in Iowa would rise to $50,000 per year under bill passed by the House

Published

2 months ago

March 7, 2024

Starting teacher salary in Iowa would rise to $50,000 per year under bill passed by the House

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.

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Iowa

Six people rescued from northwest Iowa river – Radio Iowa

Published

4 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

Six people rescued from northwest Iowa river – Radio Iowa

An eight year old child was among six people rescued Saturday afternoon on the West Fork of the Des Moines River, north of Estherville. Travis Sheridan, Estherville’s Fire Chief, said a 911 call indicated a kayak flipped over and a woman and child were in the water.

“Once fire fighters got on the scene, the child was still OK, with just basically her face sitting above the water. Her life jacket was caught in the log jam,” Sheridan said. “They’d tried taking it off, but that just sucked the child further into the log jam.”

Firefighters were able to cut the girl’s life jacket off and rescue her from the river. Sheridan credits the girl’s aunt for keeping the eight year old’s head above water.

“She held onto that child for over 30 minutes,” Sheridan said. “She saved that child’s life until our rescue personnel could get on scene.”

Firefighters used the department’s rescue boat to bring the aunt, her niece and four others to shore. Two others who’d be in the river were able to get out of the water on their own. Sheridan said the Emmet County dispatcher was on the phone for 40 minutes, relaying information from the stranded people on the river to rescuers. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources deployed a back-up rescue boat to the scene and the Iowa State Patrol had three drones flying overhead to monitor the situation.

“It was just a collaborative effort by all,” Sheridan said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.”

The names of the people who were rescued have not been released.

(Reporting by Ed Funston, KILR, Estherville)

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Iowa

67 state boards and commissions being eliminated – Radio Iowa

Published

11 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

67 state boards and commissions being eliminated – Radio Iowa

by O. Kay Henderson | May 19, 2024

The 2024 Iowa legislative session ended at 4:23 a.m. on April 20. The governor had 30 days after that to sign or veto all the bills passed by the legislature. (RI file photo)

Eighty-three state boards and commissions are being eliminated or consolidated.

Governor Kim Reynolds recommended even more for elimination, but legislators pared down her list and she has approved the final plan.

Iowa-Nebraska NAACP president Betty Andrews is raising concerns about shifting power away from the Iowa Civil Rights Commission to a director appointed by the governor. The plan also eliminates several commissions in the Iowa Department of Human Rights.

“It sends a sad, unwelcoming message to communities of color, to people with disabilities and women,” Andrews said, “that civil rights and their interests are not a priority at the highest level of state government.”

Reynolds said have the Iowa Civil Rights Commission be an advisory group rather than a decision-making board makes sense.

“We had a part-time board that was really managing things and it’s just too hard to do that. You need somebody that’s there full time,” Reynolds said. “…It’s just a better way for us to really manage the organization.”

Reynolds sids there’s never been a comprehensive review of all state boards and commissions and it’s a continuation of her efforts to make state government more efficient. A year ago, the legislature approved the governor’s plan to reduce the number of state agencies from 36 to 16.

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Iowa

New Iowa law flouts U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause

Published

19 hours ago

May 19, 2024

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New Iowa law flouts U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause

Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column.

Where does your primary loyalty lie: as a citizen of America, or as a citizen of Iowa?

Probably seems like a meaningless question. But around the nation, more and more states these days are enacting laws in opposition to those of the federal government, placing the loyalty question front and center. And a growing number of U.S. residents are declaring a preference to honor their state laws above those of the United States.

ORIGINS OF THE SUPREMACY CLAUSE

In terms of settled law, there’s no real dispute: federal law outranks state law. The U.S. Constitution leaves no doubt. Article VI, Clause 2 (the “Supremacy Clause”), reads as follows:

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