Iowa ‘education’ bill silences students

Most Republicans in the Iowa House don’t think much of kids. Just look at the big “education” bill Republicans shoved to passage this week.

There’s a provision in Senate File 496 requiring school staff who suspect a student is transgender to inform administrators who then must inform the kid’s parents. Never mind if the student fears retribution at home and wants a safe space at school. What the student wants doesn’t count.

In another section of the bill, which must return to the Senate, dealing with removing books from school libraries, the bill prohibits students from serving on committees that decide if books are banned. Sure. It’s students who will be most affected by banning books, but their voices won’t be heard.

The bill also says students can’t be surveyed about their lives and beliefs without written consent from their parents. That could mean the end of the Iowa Youth Survey, sponsored by the Department of Public Health and conducted by the Center for Behavioral Research at the University of Northern Iowa.

The wide-ranging survey asks students about community engagement, physical well-being, mental health and suicide, beliefs and values, bullying, substance abuse and many other topics. Its findings help shape public policy. Now, unless parents give the OK, students will not be allowed to participate. During debate, Rep. Heather Manson rightly said that, without data, policymakers seeking to address problems facing kids will be “throwing darts.”

So we’re out to protect kids from “pornographic” books and “woke-ism,” but we really don’t care what they think or what they’re experiencing. They should be seen but not heard. They’re simply pawns in a red state political power grab. They belong to their parents, and that’s all you need to know.

If they’re abused at home or become homeless because they’re forcibly outed by school officials, it’s really for their own good. Marginalized kids who need a trusted adult to confide in at school had better keep quiet. If they lose access to books that reflect their lives because a few paragraphs describe sex, we’re shielding their innocence. If students want to take a confidential survey and don’t have a parent’s permission slip, too bad. You're not allowed to have an opinion.

So this “education” bill really isn’t about students. It’s about punishing school districts, with Linn-Mar, of course, at the top of the list. It’s about muzzling teachers who will fear saying anything about the lives of LGBTQ people could land them in hot water. And it’s about giving like-minded conservative crusaders more control over our education system.

Take the Board of Educational Examiners, which renders decisions in disciplinary cases involving teachers. It’s currently made up of licensed practitioners, a jury of peers. Under the bill, five of its 11 seats will be held by parents and one by a school board member. Gov. Kim Reynolds appoints the board. Who do you think she’ll pick?

Also, the burden of proof for the board will no longer be “clear and convincing” evidence. It must only find a “preponderance” of evidence to find a teacher guilty.

The bill is a political sham, and its backers don’t even try to deny it. The bill proclaims parents have a fundamental constitutional right to make decisions for their kids, then carves out an exception for the ban on gender-affirming care for minors lawmakers banned this session.

And although school staff must forcibly out transgender kids to their parents, the names of people who ask for books to be removed will be kept confidential. You can’t make this stuff up.

Backers say we can’t trust schools. But we should trust lawmakers, who see our public schools not as a valuable asset but as a political target.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com