A proposed bill offered by 10 Iowa House Republicans would provide much greater and needed transparency to Iowa classrooms.
House File 2060 provides the unit of social studies required to include a study of the Constitution of the United States, the structure of the United States and a multiple-choice assessment of the student’s knowledge of United States government.
It also requires a public school district to submit the results of these assessments to the Department of Education. The results of the assessments would be required to be published on the department’s website.
Prior to a public school district using a textbook, book, article, video or other educational material for the specific social studies instruction mentioned for the first time, the Department of Education must review and approve the textbook, book, article, video or other educational material.
The bill also describes the review process, which includes consultation with parents, guardians and teachers along with a time for public comment.
The Department of Education is also required to publish a list of all educational materials approved for use by public schools.
Finally, school districts will not be able to require teachers or students to personally affirm any currently controversial issue.
Representative John Wills sponsored the bill, which is cosponsored by Representatives Skyler Wheeler, Dean Fisher, Dennis Bush, Tom Gerhold, Tom Jeneary, Henry Stone, Anne Osmundson, Steve Holt and Garrett Gobble.
[…] today we told you about House File 2060, a bill sponsored by State Rep. John Wills and cosponsored by nine other Republicans. The bill, […]