Lawmakers eliminate open-enrollment deadline -- Tackle Private Election Contributions

Iowa lawmakers ended the 2022 legislative session early Wednesday with action on some familiar topics: school choice and election law.

 

Before they went home, Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate voted to eliminate a deadline for open enrollment, over the objections of Democrats who said the move would throw school district budgets into chaos. 

 

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, said parental choice had been a key priority for Republicans. “Iowa has some excellent public schools but they don’t always work for every student. Putting parents first has been a theme for Senate Republicans for the last six years,” he said. 

Earlier this week, House Republican leaders had pulled the plug on the governor’s priority bill that would have provided state aid to help families pay for private school tuition and expenses. 

 

Instead, Republicans in both chambers pushed through a provision to repeal the school open enrollment deadline of March 1. If the bill is signed into law, students and parents can choose to open enroll to any district in the state. Student-athletes would still be required to sit out of a sport if they transfer districts. The measure would be effective immediately following the governor’s signature.  

 

“This is a people provision – giving parents and students the choice, not the school district and it is not about money,” floor manager of the bill Rep. Gary Mohr, R-Bettendorf, said. 

 

Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, said current open enrollment provisions already accommodate students who need to transfer out of a district in cases of bullying. The amendment only hinders school districts from hiring a sufficient number of teachers, she said. “It’s unfortunate because I really believe that this could destroy our small schools,” Mascher said. “They can’t handle that kind of fluctuation. That is a problem when they can’t identify what their enrollment would be in the fall.” 

 

House Speaker Pat Grassley told reporters that Democrats were focusing only on the implications for the school district, with no concern for the parents. “… The other side is not taking any time to say, what about the parents when it come to the students in those school districts,” Grassley said. “Yeah, we want to have certainty for school districts, but also there needs to be a level of certainty that when you enroll your child in K-12 education… that you have assurance as to what they’re going to get from their education.”

 

Lawmakers bar private money for elections

 

The bill also included a pair of 11th-hour election changes. The proposal would bar the Iowa secretary of state or county auditor from accepting any non-public money for conducting an election.

 

Before the 2020 election, grants for election expenses from a non-profit organization funded in part by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg were the subject of lawsuits in Iowa and around the country.

 

The legislation also prohibits statewide elected officials from spending taxpayer money to send out mass mailings using their image or likeness within 60 days before an election. Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, said the proposal was modeled after federal laws that govern taxpayer-funded mailings from members of Congress.