Advocacy Center: Be a Voice for Iowa Public Schools

The need for advocacy on behalf of Iowa public schools has never been greater. The decisions made by the Iowa General Assembly and at the national level impact your school district and the education of Iowa's 487,000 public school students. As our state strives to implement far-ranging educational reforms, with limited resources—we must stand together. IASB is here is help you be a strong and effective voice for public education with our advocacy toolkits, powerful coalitions with other education organizations and engagement in national issues. Together, we can make your message heard on issues that matter for Iowa students.

Legislative Summary

Read a comprehensive summary of the 2021 legislative session with bill summaries, wins for IASB and a full breakdown of appropriations impacting schools.

Call for Legislative Priorities

Submit your district's legislative priorities and make your voice heard for the 2022 legislative session. Use this survey to choose up to four priorities for your district. 

Advocacy in Action

Keep up-to-date on what's happening in the legislature with an update from under the golden dome, read bill summaries, and find out ways your advocacy can make an immediate difference. 

Legislature Look up (external link)

Capitol Chats logo
Capitol Chats Has Merged with BoardCast

  • Episodes of the popular advocacy-focused Capitol Chats: Across the Aisle with IASB podcast will now be released through the BoardCast podcast for member convenience. Watch for the Capitol Chats name in the title for all advocacy episodes. Thanks for listening!
 

IASB's Guide to the Legislative Interim

The 2021 Legislative Session was a tumultuous year, with many ups and downs and twists and turns, resulting in a few hard-fought wins for public education. In a nutshell, your advocacy helped defeat vouchers, increase flexibility for board and district operations, expand access to mental health services, strengthen ELL weighting, derail efforts to eliminate a voter-approved levy, defeat unfunded mandate bills, and secure funds for preschool enrollment. Looking ahead to 2022, there are many challenges we didn’t anticipate before the pandemic. Use this handy guide to learn more about what you can expect, and how you can help, in 2022!

Advocacy 101

Learn the tips and tricks to being an effective advocate for Iowa public education.

Issue Toolkits

IASB has developed these resources to assist members with district-specific information related to current legislative issues.

Use the SSA toolkit to help you talk to your legislators about the importance of setting a state aid rate as it allows your district to plan for the future.

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The District Cost Per Pupil (DCPP) toolkit provides details on the amount of per pupil funding that generates spending authority and revenue for the regular program and other programs for all school districts.

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The transportation toolkit provides information to help in advocating for changes that will create more equity in school transportation funding without impacting educational programs.

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Graphic: Vouchers, Wrong for Iowa

The vouchers toolkit provides resources to help spread awareness about the negative impact of school vouchers.

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The English Learners Funding Toolkit provides information on the importance of funding specialized services for English language learners.

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Use this toolkit to learn about the statutory inequity within dropout prevention funding and the importance of a legislative fix to ensure per pupil equity across the state.

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