Capitol Notebook: Iowa ACLU joins fight of Arkansas ‘indoctrination’ education law

The ACLU of Iowa has joined the national American Civil Liberties Union, other ACLU affiliates and PEN America in filing a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in a First Amendment challenge to Arkansas’s ban on “prohibited indoctrination” in K-12 public schools.

A group of teachers and students in Arkansas is suing the state for using the law to remove an advanced placement African American Studies course from its AP offerings. The law prohibits “teaching that would indoctrinate students with ideologies,” such as critical race theory. Students are allowed to learn about ideas, history and matters of the day, but no teacher shall promote that systemic racism is part of American society.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called it “antithetical to the traditional American values of neutrality, equality, and fairness.” She said critical race theory “emphasizes skin color as a person’s primary characteristic, thereby resurrecting segregationist values, which America has fought so hard to reject.”

The ACLU say the Arkansas law chills frank classroom discussion about race. Its amicus brief argues students have a First Amendment right to receive information, including in public school curricula, and that the courts must safeguard classroom discussions against political censorship.

The brief argues for preserving Pratt v. Independent School District No. 831, Forest Lake, Minnesota, a 1982 decision from the Eight Circuit that recognizes students’ rights to receive information in classroom curricula. Abandoning the landmark decision, the ACLU argues, would potentially allow schools to become forums for government propaganda and indoctrination.

A preliminary injunction by a U.S. District Court Judge temporarily halted Arkansas from implementing or enforcing a section of the challenged state law. The judge wrote the law cannot be enforced "in a manner that disciplines" teachers for teaching critical race theory, or for using it to teach other topics or referencing parts of the theory.

The judge, however, ruled plaintiffs can be disciplined if they compel a student “to adopt, affirm, or profess a belief in a theory, ideology or idea (including Critical Race Theory) that conflicts with the principle of equal protection under the law” and holds that people of a specific group or characteristic protected by law “are inherently superior or inferior” to another or that they should be discriminated against.

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“The outcome of this case is important to Iowans — who are facing our own challenges when it comes to censorship in public schools with the passage of Iowa’s truly awful law banning books, forcibly outing kids, and telling teachers and students ‘don’t say LGBTQ,’” ACLU of Iowa legal director Rita Bettis Austen said in a statement. “We should all agree that our public school students have a First Amendment right to receive information."

The Eight Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month overturned a lower court injunction that had paused a 2023 Iowa law that bans books with certain sexual content from Iowa’s K-12 public schools.

The Iowa law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds and passed by statehouse Republicans bans books with depictions of sex acts from K-12 schools and prohibits the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through sixth grade. The law exempts religious texts.

A group of authors, publishers, education groups, and LGBTQ+ advocates filed a lawsuit in federal court arguing the law violated their First Amendment rights to free speech.

Iowa announces first 2024 West Nile virus case

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The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday the first case this year of an Iowan infected by the West Nile virus.

The department said an older Iowan from Harrison County between 61 and 80 years old was infected. The case was confirmed through a test at the State Hygienic Lab.

Warm summer weather means Iowans are spending more time outside, which increases the risk of mosquito bites, according to a department news release. Bites from infected mosquitoes are the primary method in which humans are infected.

For the best protection against the virus, Health and Human Services says Iowans should use an insect repellent with DEET, Picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, Para-menthane-diol, 2-undecanone or IR3535 to lower the risk of mosquito bites.

Additionally, Iowans can protect themselves by wearing long-sleeved shirts, pants, shoes and socks outdoors when possible and clear standing water around their homes.

Iowans infected with West Nile virus may not experience any signs or symptoms of the virus. Some may experience minor symptoms like fever and mild headache. Others, however, can develop serious symptoms such as a high fever, headache, disorientation, and muscle weakness requiring immediate medical attention.

In 2023, 17 Iowans were diagnosed with West Nile virus, with one death.

For more information on West Nile virus, go to hhs.iowa.gov/center-acute-disease-epidemiology/epi-manual/reportable-diseases/west-nile-virus.

Treasurer: Iowans reunite with over $500K in unclaimed property

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Iowa State Treasurer Roby Smith says Iowans filed more than 2,400 claims at the Iowa State Fair this month to be reunited with unclaimed property totaling roughly $573,000. The largest single claim field was for $50,717.

Claims were filed as part of the “Great Iowa Treasure Hunt,” where Iowans can search unclaimed property turned over to the State Treasurer’s Office for safekeeping by a business or financial institution that loses contact with the owner of the asset.

The treasure hunt works to reunite assets with the owners or heirs. Common examples include forgotten checking and savings accounts, stocks, uncashed checks, life insurance policies, utility refunds and safe deposit box contents.

Smith said his office is safekeeping more than $521 million to be claimed.

“Even if you have claimed in the past, search again. New properties are continually being added,” he said.

To search for unclaimed property and for more information, go to GreatIowaTreasureHunt.gov.