DES MOINES, Iowa — On Wednesday, the Iowa Board of Education released a set of proposed rules to a 'book ban' law Gov. Kim Reynolds signed in May 2023, already impacting the current school year.
School districts Local 5 have spoke with in the past have been unsure of how to deal with this new law, but these proposed rules add some clarity. Amid, skepticism and confusion of the law, Gov. Reynolds has defended it throughout the year.
The law includes similar measures approved in other Republican-dominated states across the U.S., with lawmakers making it clear they want to ensure parents can oversee what their kids learn in school and prevent teachers from addressing subjects pertaining to gender and sexuality.
The Iowa State Board of Education proposed to add new definitions of "sex acts" and "age-appropriate" in regards to school instruction and books offered at school libraries.
The rules clarify that age-appropriate doesn't include any "material with descriptions or visual depictions of sex acts," and relates to "teaching methods suitable" for particular ages based on behavioral capacity.
The board also eludes to specific definitions of what makes a description a sex act in these proposed rules. To read more details, click here.
In terms of books, the rules state school districts must provide an updated list online of all books available to students in libraries at least twice per calendar year.
The board also proposed consequences for school districts or school employees that violate proposed rules, starting Jan. 1, 2024:
- First violation: Iowa Dept. of Ed will issue a written warning to school district or employee.
- Second/subsequent violations: Superintendent of school district will be subject to hearing before the Board of Educational Examiners, which may result in disciplinary action. Or, if the Dept. of Ed finds that an employee of a school district knew they violated a rule, they would also be subject to a hearing before the board, which may result in disciplinary action.
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The board also aims to add a rule stating Iowa teachers will be banned from raising gender identity or sexual orientation issues up with K-6 students. If a school district has multiple grade ranges, they'll be in charge of making sure age-appropriate materials will be available "based on age and grade."
Mention of student name and gender identity also was included in the board's proposed rules. It says if a student requests to be addressed "using a name or pronoun that is different than the name or pronoun assigned to the student in the school district’s registration forms or records," then that teacher must report it to the school district, which would then be required to report that request to the student's guardian.
These rules are only proposed at the time being, and the Iowa Department of Education encourages the public to submit written comments concerning these proposed rules no later than 4:30 p.m. on January 4, 2024. There will also be a public hearing on Jan. 3 and 4, 2024.
The Iowa State Board of Education says this new rule making would "not have any impact" on teachers' and district employees' jobs.
In response to the proposed rules, ISEA President Mike Beranek released the following statement:
“The proposed rules do nothing to address the chilling effect the law created. So far, hundreds of book titles have been pulled from shelves across the state and we’ve created ridiculous amounts of paperwork over topics like student nicknames. Public education professionals will still continue to spend valuable instructional time trying to meet vague state mandates.”