DES MOINES, Iowa — It was a busy 2024 legislative session with final adjournment happening early Saturday. The House adjourned at 4:23 a.m., while the Senate adjourned at 3:26 a.m.
Gov. Kim Reynolds laid out her agenda in the Condition of the State with goals to reform Area Education Agencies (AEAs), continue making tax reforms and improve education in the state.
"We've made a difference, and it drives me to do it again; to work even harder this session. Because you know what? Iowa is on the rise," Reynolds said in her 2024 Condition of the State.
Education reforms were at the forefront of the 2024 session, with major changes on the way for AEAs.
Beginning on July 1, the new law will give schools more control over how they want to use their funding for AEA services. The law also gives oversight of AEAs to the Iowa Department of Education.
The law was highly debated throughout the session, taking it over two months to be signed into law.
"To say that this is destroying them, an attack on them, disrupting them, is ridiculous in my mind," said Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Sioux County, during a debate over AEA legislation.
It was a consistent back and forth between Democrats and Republicans, as well as between the House and Senate.
"AEA legislation, teacher pay, supplemental state aid is not a game," said Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, D-Polk County, during a debate over AEA legislation. "I don't care if they win or we win. Kids lose, families lose, parents lose. Don't call this a game."
The law reforming AEAs also includes a mandated salary increase for teachers. Educators will now see a salary increase to a statutory minimum of $50,000 beginning in Fiscal Year 2025.
Additionally, a school safety law was passed that will make it easier to arm school staff. The law would require those armed to go through trainings and pass background checks.
Outside of education reforms, lawmakers also passed a law making it illegal for individuals not in the country legally to reenter the state.
This law takes effect July 1 and has raised concerns about how local law enforcement will comply.
"I don't think that we can solve the problem at the southern border, or solve the problems of immigration in this country from Des Moines, Iowa," Chief Michael Tupper of the Marshalltown Police Department told Local 5.
In the final few days of session, Republican lawmakers finalized and passed cutting the flat income tax rate to 3.8%, beginning Jan. 1, 2025. The current flat income tax rate is 5.7%.
Reynolds issued a statement following adjournment of the session, saying in part, “Iowa has set a course for transformation, and it was the driving force of the 2024 legislative session."
Senate Democratic Leader, Pam Jochum, also released a statement after the chambers adjourned, writing, “Iowans will remember how Republicans chose to serve their governor rather than their constituents. They’ll remember how they slashed Area Education Agencies and put special interests before Iowa children. They’ll remember in November.”