Opinion: Republicans are doing exactly what they told us they’d do to education in Iowa

Our state Legislature spent much of its session determining just how much it can control what local school districts can and can’t do. To clarify — Republicans are doing exactly what they told us they’d do to education in Iowa. They told us school vouchers would be implemented. They told us they’d be implementing legislation to control what subjects K-12 educators can discuss. They told us they’d be attacking concepts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher ed. They told us they’d be attacking LGBTQ youth and adults. Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa GOP may have made their agenda more palatable by framing it as “parental choice” or “looking out for the children,” but the agenda was clear if you were paying a modicum of attention. So what exactly does the future of education in Iowa look like?

Following in the footsteps of states like Florida and Texas, Iowa has sought to usurp local control of K-12 education with bills that are vague and broadly defined, but very clear about the punitive aspects for violating them — a perfect recipe for chilling speech. The Iowa GOP has already passed a bill banning the teaching of “divisive concepts” in K-12 education, which has caused confusion for teachers and other educators as they address both historical concepts and current events. Early in this legislative session, Republicans usurped the traditional governing process to ensure that a school vouchers bill that had failed twice before made it through and was signed into law. This law amounts to using public funds to prop private schools.

Initial versions of Reynolds' education bill amounted to what would have been a state takeover of local school districts. For example, the initial version of the bill would have allowed a single school district to control what is available in school libraries across the state by putting any challenged book on a statewide “removal list,” forcing school districts across the state to remove it (even when it has not been challenged locally). It also put forth onerous requirements for posting materials, lesson plans and discussions online.

While not quite as bad as its initial drafts, the final education bill (Senate File 496) still goes overboard in usurping local control. The bill also targets LGBTQ students by restricting “instruction” related to “gender identity” or “sexual orientation” about “gender identity” for K-6 and how educators can interact with students who, for example, would like to be called a name other than what is on their birth certificate. While this bill, framed by the Iowa GOP as focused on parental rights and school transparency may seem fine on first glance, it’s worth noting that these terms are defined so broadly as to make them almost meaningless. With broad definitions and draconian penalties, these bills are designed to punish teachers and chill speech. They are also just the beginning — a similar bill in Florida that focused on K-6 education has already been expanded through high school.

More: Opinion: Is Iowa still a good place to live? P-C editorial board to answer this question in 2023.

We would like to be clear — we are in favor of parents knowing what is being taught in their school districts. We encourage parents to get involved and work with their local districts and teachers to ensure their kids are receiving a quality education. Educators should be cognizant of how they interact with students struggling with issues of identity, be it gender, sexual, cultural, racial, or something else. There are very real, evidence-based conversations to be had about how best to handle these issues. However, research has shown that when schools put into place approaches designed to protect vulnerable groups, everyone benefits. These bills seem to be solutions in search of problems, and likely to make any current problems even worse. Make no mistake — these bills will have the ultimate effect of making it even more difficult for Iowa to recruit quality teachers.

The Iowa GOP is also attacking higher education. Republicans already targeted specific diversity, equity and inclusion programs in their previous “divisive concepts” bill. This year they tried to take it further. House File 218 would prevent our state universities from spending any state appropriation or private funds on a diversity, equity or inclusion office or administrator. Even representatives from the Iowa Board of Regents urged lawmakers to reject this bill, which could interfere with federal research contracts, accreditation programs, and the ability of these schools to offer scholarships. Eventually legislators ordered a study of these offices and a spending freeze. We can expect more attacks on Iowa’s higher education system in the next legislative session. Iowa will likely follow in the footsteps of Florida and Texas, yet again, to push bills, such as attacking tenure or humanities programs, that will once again make it harder to recruit talent to the state.

It is worth noting that rather than the “grassroots focus on parental rights and transparency” Reynolds and the Iowa GOP want you to think these bills are, they are often pushed by national organizations with specific agendas, such as the Manhattan Institute or the American Legislative Exchange Council. If you don’t know who these organizations are you should, because they, not your elected leaders, not most parents, and certainly not teachers, are the ones writing your education legislation. The Iowa GOP seems wrapped up in a desire to “win” the current culture wars pushed by national organizations at the expense of the most vulnerable children and students in our state.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen Editorial Board is a volunteer group of readers who meet weekly. They are Venise Berry, Dave Bright, Shams Ghoneim, Robert Goodfellow, Kylah Hedding and John Macatee. The editorial board is separate from newsroom editors and reporters, and its views do not influence the decisions they make about news coverage.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Opinion: Iowa Republicans are doing exactly what they said they’d do