New Iowa rules on teacher testing, confidential employees move ahead

After nearly two hours of discussion, a legislative panel on Tuesday cleared the way for the state Department of Education to begin implementing testing requirements in January for Iowa candidates seeking to be licensed to teach.

Members of the Legislature's Administrative Rules Review Committee were told the new rules regarding teacher preparedness tests will require candidates to score above the 25

^th

percentile on the assessment, meaning the student's score must be in the top 75 percent of test-takers nationally to pass.

Education department chief Jason Glass said the rules were developed through a process commenced in July to implement a 2012 law that requires candidates in Iowa's teacher preparation programs to pass assessments of pedagogy and content knowledge in at least one subject area as a condition of completing a preparation program.

After delaying the enforcement date of the law that took effect July 1 to accommodate teacher candidates who were completing student teaching this fall, Glass said the department decided the testing requirements should take effect next Jan. 2 noting that “every year that we would delay enactment of the law, it's another year that would potentially put unqualified people into teaching roles in the state.”

Some legislators, students and others had called on the committee to delay the proposed changes to the educational requirements and financial costs to students studying to be teachers at Iowa's public and private colleges and universities because it was unfair, especially to enrolled seniors who were having the rules changed for them and new testing fees added as they were preparing to finish their training.

“What's wrong with phasing this in?” asked committee member Sen. Tom Courtney, D-Burlington. “I don't see the point of us changing the rules in the middle of the game. That's not fair.”

However, retiring Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, said he did not think the committee should lodge an objection or seek a session delay since lawmakers did not include specific enactment dates when they approved the change last session. He said the Legislature will still have time early in the 2013 to address any concerns that have been raised about the new testing requirements for teachers graduating college in 2013.

Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix of Shell Rock issued a statement saying he was encouraged that the rules panel allowed the department's plan to take effect without objection or delay. “Iowa has some of the most relaxed teacher standards in the country and we were one of the few states that didn't require their new teachers to take a preparedness test,” Dix said. “This standardization will more closely align us with other state's requirements and ensure that our teachers are ready to educate our children.”

On a separate topic, the legislative panel tried unsuccessfully to delay a proposal by the state Department of Administrative Services to revise and expand the definition of the term “confidential employee” in state government. The DAS filing would define a confidential employee as an employee who is in a confidential relationship with a director, chief deputy administrative officer, a division administrator, or a similar position, and is a part of the management or legal team of that top-level administrator. Under the proposed rule, a confidential relationship means a relationship in which one person has a duty to the other not to disclose information.

At least three current state employees questioned this expanded definition at Tuesday's meeting, contending that the language was vague and an improper expansion of the statutory exemption that is one of 24 legislatively created exceptions to the application of the merit system in state employment.

Committee member and outgoing Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton, said he thought the language was tight and would not be used to shelter political appointments as some critics contended, while Rep. Rick Olson, D-Des Moines, said the department and Gov. Terry Branstad's staff had failed to explain what confidential meant in this context and why the change was needed and Rep. Jo Oldson, D-Des Moines, called the proposal “as wide open as a barn door.”

However, a motion to delay the rule's implementation so the Legislature could consider the change failed on a 5-4 verdict that was two votes short of the required threshold. The panel members did agree to refer the matter to the proper House and Senate committees next session for review as part of what Kibbie called “an educational exercise.”