DES MOINES, Iowa — One of the pieces of legislation to not survive the funnel week deadline was the Senate File 2364. The measure, which was introduced by Senate President Jake Chapman, would have punished teachers with jailtime and fines for allowing materials deemed obscene in their classroom
"I think it's important for folks to understand that our education professionals are the experts," said Iowa State Education Association Government Relaltions Specialist Melissa Peterson. "They know what is best for our students."
Peterson says the lack of support from lawmakers to move forward Senate File 2363 is reassuring for state educators.
"I would say, the silver lining of this is that we have heard resoundingly from the public, parents, community leaders that the idea that we need to penalize our educators for helping to educate and create an inclusive environment for our students has been overwhelmingly rejected," said Peterson.
And while the measure isn't moving forward at this point, Peterson says the proposal likely had a lasting impact on teachers.
"It also I think contributes to the demoralization that some in the education fields are feeling right now," said Peterson. "And it's very obvious that there are certain individuals who just want to attack the profession and the teachers in general. We need to respect the professionals that are already there and work to retain them, not to threaten them. And to try to scare them out of the profession or away from doing their jobs."
A spokesperson for the Senate GOP says the senate intends to use the Governor's proposal, commonly referred to as the parent's bill of rights, as the vehicle for address concerns from parents.
"The Governor has put forward a strong set of education reforms," said Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver. " Senate Republicans look forward to continuing to work on her proposal and find agreement with the House to further empower parents in their children's education."
House Speaker Pat Grassley told reporters he was never in favor of these punishments for teachers, adding the House is focused on increasing transparency for families with the parent's bill of rights.
"I've been clear that I don't, and a majority of the caucus do not support criminal penalties for that," said Grassley. "We feel very strongly, though, that we'd like to do something on transparency. And I think we can do that in a way to empower parents."
Local 5 reached out to Chapman for a comment, and have not yet received a response. Requests were also made to a number of parents who spoke out against certain pieces of literature and met with lawmakers ahead of session. So far those messages have gone unreturned.