The 2025 legislative session finally ended on Thursday, May 15 almost two weeks after the statutory deadline. While it’s not unusual for the governor, Senate, and House to struggle to reach a budget agreement despite being in the same party, things were complicated this year by the carbon pipeline. 12 Republican senators said they would not vote for any budgets on the Senate floor until they had a vote on a “clean” eminent domain bill that restricted its use by carbon pipelines. That position created drama rarely seen in public. Veteran lobbyists cannot remember a time when members of the same party (in this case Republican) attacked each other on the floor for their position on this legislation. This is a rare instance in which a bill passed a chamber without the majority of the majority party in support. 14 Democrats joined 13 Republicans to pass the legislation, paving the way for budget votes. 

The legislature came in with a promise to address property taxes but attempts to find a solution that did not create “winners and losers” ultimately failed. After multiple versions, both chambers determined they would not have the support for a bill that would shift some of the property tax burden onto homeowners. This occurred because of the elimination of the residential rollback. Even with limits on city and county revenue generation and a larger homestead tax credit, this still created a large inequity between residential properties compared to ag land and commercial properties. Expect this issue to return for the 2026 legislative session. 

 By and large, public K-12 schools were not the target this legislative session. It’s still hard to find much that the legislature did to make a make a difference in student achievement, but we were successful in staving off bad legislation.   

 On the positive side, IASB: 

• Increased the count for shared operational functions from 21 to 25. 

• Restored the Teach Iowa job posting site within the DE. 

• Doubled the funding for the teacher loan repayment program. 

• Maintained the $14 million for non-salaried school employees. 

• Passed legislation to stop “double counting” dropouts. 

• Passed legislation (signed into law) to provide more flexibility for districts with chronic absenteeism requirements. 

• Passed legislation including a healthcare workgroup to review existing health-related training requirements and make recommendations for reducing the burden on schools. 

• Passed legislation to provide more support to districts through school safety threat assessment teams. 

• Stopped legislation that required TSS dollars to follow a student who enrolled in a charter school. 

• Stopped legislation that authorized districts to have chaplains. 

• Stopped legislation requiring teachers to post on the district’s website ALL materials, links, etc. used in the classroom. 

On the negative side, our effort to provide funding for all day preschool for low-income students failed to gain traction. The governor’s proposal to provide a continuum of care took the steam out of our efforts but we will try again next year. At the end of the day, the legislature declined to pass the governor’s proposal.  

 Our effort to provide equity for drop-out prevention passed the House and the Senate Education Committee but was not considered by the Senate Ways and Means Committee. This is the furthest we have gotten, and the bill is technically alive for next year.   

 Check out what happened to the bills we followed in the last days of the legislative session in our Bills on the Move section below. A complete legislative summary will be made available in late June. The governor has 30 days to sign legislation sent to her at the end of the legislative session.  Very few education bills that passed earlier this session have actually been sent to the governor for her signature, include SSA which passed both chambers in early April! 

The legislature officially adjourned on Thursday, May 15. Stay tuned for our final legislative summary in late June for a full recap of which bills died or were signed by the governor. 

HF 1039—Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF) Appropriations: This budget includes money for projects at many state departments. It allocates $600,000 from the Technology Reinvestment Fund to the Department of Education for continued development and implementation of an educational data warehouse that can be used by teachers, parents, school district administrators, area education agency staff, and DE staff.  

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 43-0 and passed the House by a vote of 58-24. It will be sent to Governor Reynolds for her signature.  

SF 660—Sports Wagering Fund Appropriations: This bill appropriates $14 million to school districts for education support personnel compensation for the 2025-26 school year. This is a one-time appropriation and can be used for any non-salaried staff.  

Additionally, the bill appropriates $5 million to the Department of Education for the Division of Special Education, bringing the full appropriation to this division to $10 million, including money in the education budget.  

IASB is registered in support of the bill. We appreciate the additional funding for non-salaried support staff but would prefer it to be an ongoing appropriation rather than one-time money. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 39-0 and passed the House by a vote of 80-2. It will be sent to Governor Reynolds for her signature.  

SF 659—Standing Appropriations: This is the catch-all last bill of the session, and it includes several items related to education: 

• $8.9 million for nonpublic school transportation reimbursement. 

• $0 for instructional support state aid, which has not been funded since FY 2011. 

• $21.8 million transferred from the Iowa Economic Emergency Fund to pay for state foundation aid. 

• Statutory reductions in AEA funding, totaling $32.5 million with $25 million from the special ed funding distributed to AEAs and school districts. 

• The money generated by the educational and media services property tax levies attributable to the nonpublic school students included in that calculation will be distributed to the AEAs.  Districts will still receive the amount attributable to their actual student enrollment. 

Several policy items were also included in the standings bill this year. 

Student Abuse by School Employees: There is language from a bill passed unanimously by the House earlier this session on student abuse by school employees. It moves investigations of alleged student abuse by school employees to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Student abuse is defined in the bill as a nonaccidental injury suffered by the student because of actions or inaction by the employee, commission of a sexual offense, or an action by the employee that encourages a student to engage in prostitution.   

HHS must notify the school district and the Board of Educational Examiners (BOEE) if they receive a complaint that constitutes an allegation of student abuse by a school employee. Districts must then place the employee on administrative leave and prohibit them from entering school property until the investigation is completed.   

After receiving a complaint, HHS must:  

• Start an investigation within 24 hours. 

• Complete the investigation within 30 business days. 

• Upon completion, submit a report to the school district and the BOEE. 

HHS, in consultation with the Department of Education, will adopt rules to implement the bill, including investigation processes and procedures.   

School districts must terminate an employee if an HHS investigation determines they committed student abuse. HHS and DE will develop a model policy for handling investigations.   

Modified Supplemental Amount for Large Open Enrollment Districts: Districts with more than 45% of students open enrolled in can go to the School Budget Review Committee (SBRC) for a modified supplemental amount (MSA) to grant them more spending authority. This was passed last year, but only allowed for one year, so this allows districts to apply in future budget years, as well. Districts that opt to pursue this MSA are not allowed to raise their combined tax rate in the budget year following the approval of the MSA.  It also strikes language that allowed the TSS dollars to follow the student. 

IASB is registered undecided on the bill. It passed the Senate by a vote of 28-11 and passed the House by a vote of 78-3. It will be sent to Governor Reynolds for her signature.    

HF 189—Nonpublic School Student Extracurricular Participation: This bill requires public schools to allow resident nonpublic school students to take part in extracurricular activities not provided at the nonpublic school. Additionally, nonpublic school students will be allowed to take part at a contiguous school district if their resident district does not provide the activity. The nonpublic school can’t be in a sharing agreement with another public school district and cannot have offered the activity in the previous two school years for the nonpublic student to participate at the public school. 

The bill also says enrollment counts for classification purposes will count the students from the nonpublic school as 25% of the school’s enrollment in grades 9-11. A district's classification, if changed, will not apply to football for two years, and will only change beginning in the 2027-28 school year.  

IASB is registered undecided on the bill, but we want districts to be able to make a local decision on sharing and providing extracurricular opportunities to nonpublic school students in their area. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 31-13 and passed the House by a vote of 59-26. It will be sent to Governor Reynolds for her signature.  

IASB has done analysis on the governor’s initial budget proposal as well. The legislature will have the final say on the budget, but the governor provides her recommendations every year. Read more about Governor Reynolds’ proposal on supplemental state aid (SSA) and the implications for school districts. 

IASB will provide a more detailed look at the governor’s legislative priorities once her bills are introduced.  We remain optimistic that we can work together to support student achievement for all students.