Senate File 2360 attempts to address concerns with classroom behavior in Iowa. The bill includes several provisions related to classroom clears, management training and offers solutions for the lack of alternative placement classrooms.
“The bill before us today is a bill focused on returning classrooms in Iowa to the safe and productive environments they should be,” said Sen. Amy Sinclair (R-Allerton). “This bill is truly about creating a safe learning space for all students and all teachers.”
It is a lengthy piece of legislation and can be read here.
Sen. Claire Celsi (D-West Des Moines) proposed an amendment creating three pilot programs in the bill. Celsi is concerned with the “low” amount of funding appropriated. Celsi was hopeful to create three pilot programs equally distributed geographically throughout the state.
“They’re delivering results already,” Sinclair said. “We don’t need a pilot project for something we know is already working.”
A few other Democrat amendments failed as well. Sinclair had an amendment pass that made some final changes to the bill.
Sen. Julian Garrett (R-Indianola) said it has become obvious that this is a big problem and needs to be addressed.
“We heard about clearing classrooms when you have a disruptive student, clearing the students who were not doing the disrupting and leaving the disruptive student,” he said. “We heard about teachers who were really having problems with the stress, some even thinking about quitting. Common sense would say you take the student that’s doing the disrupting out and go on with the work in the classroom for the other students. It’s not fair to the students who are behaving themselves. It’s not fair to the taxpayer or to the parents.”
Cesi thanked Sinclair as well as all the advocates for coming to the table to create a “much better” bill than when it was first introduced. She blamed “underfunding” for the problems.
“Ten years of underfunding has taken a toll on our teachers and all of our students,” she said. “It’s hard to believe that some folks in this room take student protection and teacher protection and this problem seriously.
“The best thing we can do to support our teachers is to restore collective bargaining, the next thing we could do is to fund the children’s mental health program, which we still haven’t done yet — to our shame. This bill is a tiny band-aid on a giant problem.”
Sen. Zach Wahls (D-Coralville) said it may be the first time he’s ever said he couldn’t agree more with Garrett.
“But it’s definitely true,” he said. “It’s a big problem.”
Sen. Joe Bolkcom (D-Iowa City) criticized past education funding as well.’
“This is what 10 years of neglecting our local schools looks like,” he said. “Your priorities have been in a different area of state spending. We get told all the time about how much money is going to education. And, by golly, there is a lot that goes to it, but over the last couple years you’ve had a bigger priority and that’s tax cuts for rich folks.”
Bolkcom continued his criticisms.
“Do you guys ever read the bills you pass,” he asked. “The impact of the 2018 tax bill has taken nearly $500 million away from our ability to fund our schools.”
In the last two years, Bolkcom said, state supplemental aid has been $111 million while the “fat cats” have gotten a couple hundred million in tax cuts.
“We’ve put the fat cats ahead of the kids,” Bolkcom said. “It’s not news around here. It’s not something new. It’s the standard operating procedure.”
Bolkcom criticized the $1.5 million figure.
“It’s going to take 50 years to get to all the kids who need our help,” he said. “This is a start. It’s a band-aid on a gaping wound. I’m going to support this today, but I’m really disappointed at the decisions you guys continue to make with the resources people give us in this state to improve this state.”
Sen. Jackie Smith (D-Sioux City) said she is supporting the bill because, she said, she’ll support a bill to help just one student.
“As a lifelong educator, I did everything I could to try to help every child I came in contact with,” she said. “This bill will help 150 at most. I’ll vote for it just for that reason.”
Smith noted that the largest percentage of removals for behavior happened in grades K-2. It has gone up 82 percent.
“So, what else could we be doing to teach social, emotional skills at such a young age,” Smith said. “Well, we could fund preschool a little bit more than what we are.”
The second-largest increase, Smith said, was grades 6-8.
Sen. Brad Zaun (R-Urbandale) said he wasn’t planning on speaking on the floor, but had no choice after Democrats stood up to say they support the bill and then continued to point out its problems.
“I’ve been down here for a while,” Zaun said. “I want to give you a history lesson of why we’re in the position we’re in today.”
Zaun said years ago, the Des Moines Public Schools decided minority students were being suspended at a higher rate than white students. So the policy changed.
“With that change, the discipline went out the window,” he said.
Zaun spoke at Drake University with teachers who want to be curriculum directors or administrators. After about two hours, he asked what he could do, if he had a crystal ball and was king of the Iowa Senate and could get any wish they wanted, what would it be.
“One hundred percent of those students said let me get back control of my classroom,” he said. “I heard the horror stories.”
Zaun acknowledged issues with mental health funding. He also said Iowa has the best teachers in the country. But, he said, the problem with education funding isn’t the total, it’s where it is going.
From 1992-2015, there was a 33 percent increase in per-student spending. There was a nine percent increase in salaries. At the same time, the number of students increased three percent, the number of teachers increased 14 percent and administrators increased 29 percent.
“So, the money that we’re allocating is not going to the classrooms,” Zaun said. “Administrators don’t live like our teachers. They live a lot higher lifestyle.”
Zaun said those administrators receive not only a salary but annuity, travel expenses, new expenses, a cadillac insurance plan, more paid vacation, paid holidays and a cell phone allowance.
“I have no problem putting money into our schools if the return on investment was better,” Zaun said.
He then compared to education funding from when Democrats were in control to now that Republicans are in charge.
“When you all had the trifecta in 2008, you promised $117 million in new dollars,” Zaun said. “Guess what was given — zero.”
He continued on that line of thinking.
“When you were in charge, you had the trifecta, you shorted the schools $459 million over a four-year period,” Zaun said. “Since Republicans have taken care of things. Maybe it wasn’t enough, but I come from the old school — you don’t promise what you can’t deliver.”
Zaun agreed with Bolkcom that he’s sick and tired of corporations like Google and Facebook getting all of these dollars from the state, but noted Senate Republicans did what they could with what they had in terms of funding education.
He spoke with students from Johnston today. Zaun asked how many of them have this issue arise in their classrooms.
“About 90 percent of those kids in middle school said this is going on in classrooms,” he said. “This is a huge first step to helping our teachers out. Because I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of not defending teachers in the classroom because they deal with a lot of issues. And I hope that we do put the money where our mouth is on this mental health, because that is another huge component. We’ve got to help our teachers out.”
Sinclair closed by saying she’s worked harder on this bill than any other during her eight years in the Senate. Not only did she embraced the ideas of stakeholder groups, but she also embraced the ideas of her colleagues in both the House and the Senate. She worked with teacher groups, parent groups and administrators. With urban schools and rural schools.
“I took phone calls on Saturdays because I wanted to make sure voices were being heard,” she said.
For all the amendments that were proposed, Sinclair said she didn’t receive any of them until Tuesday.
“This bill has been out for six weeks,” she said.
Sinclair said she begged for input and wanted the bill to be a bipartisan, multi-agency bill that serves the most students in the best ways possible.
As for Smith’s contention that she’ll vote for the legislation because it helps one kid, or 150 kids, Sinclair disagreed.
“This bill helps every student in the state of Iowa,” Sinclair said. “That’s what it’s about — helping all students and all teachers in the state of Iowa to address the appropriate level of education each student needs.”
As for other contentions from Democrats, who said this is the result of 10 years of neglect, Sinclair had a simple message. Republicans have only been in charge for four of those 10 years.
“And every year, as Sen. Zaun mentioned, we funded the promise we made,” Sinclair said.
Sinclair said, as an educator, she will not sit back and do nothing and become part of the problem.
