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The second week of the 2025 Iowa Legislative Session was short and busy. Short because we were not in session on Monday due to the Martin Luther King holiday and extremely busy as our many committee meetings and subcommittee meetings had to be crammed into the shortened schedule. This week’s edition of Freedom Watch will cover a number of areas of interest to the citizens of Iowa.
First-Ever Federal and Other Funds Budget Subcommittee Meeting
- The newly formed Federal and Other Funds Budget Subcommittee met for the first time this week.
- Historically, any money allocated to the state of Iowa from the federal government comes with many strings attached.
- Federal programs too often treat states like Iowa the same as California, even though our needs are vastly different. The reality is that states are much better equipped to react to situations and know what is best for their citizens. But too often, the federal government stands in our way.
- With President Donald Trump back in the White House, we are hopeful that this will mean more flexibility with the federal dollars sent to Iowa. He has expressed a willingness to work with states to make these programs better tailored to each state’s needs.
- With this new committee, Iowa will be one of the leaders in the country on how to best use this new flexibility from President Trump’s smaller and smarter federal government.
HSB30: Civics Test Graduation Requirement
- This week, the Education committee passed a bill out of subcommittee that requires all students in high school to pass the U.S. Citizenship test in order to graduate.
- Under this bill, students would need to answer at least 60% of the questions correctly to pass and could retake the exam as many times as needed. It also explicitly states that no fee will be associated with this test.
- Last year, the Iowa Legislature passed a bill to reprioritize history and civics in education by requiring the State Board of Education to include minimum standards related to U.S. history, western civilization, civics, and Iowa history.
- It is clear when you talk to young people today that their knowledge of history and civics is not satisfactory.
- Our goal is to ensure that Iowa graduates leave high school with a fundamental understanding of our government, our precious freedoms, and the importance of civic engagement.
- Passing a test built off the same test required to become a U.S. Citizen is a great bar to set for all Iowa students.
- This bill will next be considered by the entire Education Committee.
Newly Formed Higher Education Committee’s Agenda Takes Shape
- This Session, House Speaker Pat Grassley formed a new committee called the Higher Education committee tasked with taking a comprehensive look at Iowa’s higher education system. I am excited to be on this committee and get to work on its important priorities.
- Over the past few years, we have done great work to refocus our regent universities on providing quality education and preparing our workforce. However, the regents are not the only institutions who benefit from taxpayer dollars.
- Taxpayer investment should be met with a return on that investment. The state has a vested interest in ensuring state dollars are being used to address workforce shortages rather than enforce ideological agendas.
- This week, the Higher Education committee released fourteen bills for consideration. These bills give a good idea of what is on the table for the committee this year.
- These bills include initiatives to make college more affordable, review academic programs’ alignment with the state’s workforce needs, ensure students are not subjected to indoctrination, and eliminate DEI from all institutions of higher education. Stay tuned because we are just getting started.
Reality Check: The Truth About ESA Funding
- This week, Iowa House Democrats repeated their misleading claim that “Reynolds’ private school voucher program will cost Iowa taxpayers $1 billion.” They posted this on Facebook with a graphic they made to look like a news article.
- The actual number expected to be spent on ESAs during this school year is $218 million, quite different from $1 billion. Next Fiscal Year, this number is expected to grow to roughly $314 million. Again, nowhere near $1 billion.
- In order to reach their $1 billion number, you would have to add up all the money spent on the ESA program from its implementation in Fiscal Year 2024 all the way until it’s projected cost in Fiscal Year 2027. Obviously, if you keep adding year-over-year you can eventually get to whatever number you want.
- However, it is important to note that over that same period, the state will spend roughly $16 billion on public education.
- In the FY 2025 budget, state aid to public schools accounts for 43.62% of the entire state budget. That’s the biggest piece of the pie by far. ESAs, meanwhile, account for 2.01% of the total state budget.
- The Democrats are resorting to misleading tactics to manipulate their followers into believing a false narrative around ESAs.
- ESAs are not breaking the state budget. The state is not spending more on private education than public education. And ESAs will not cost the state even close $1 billion this or next fiscal year. Darn those pesky facts.
The winning continues.
