Costello, Sieck Address Education Issues At Legislative Coffee

The first and only legislative coffee of the year in Glenwood attracted more than 50 people to City Hall Saturday morning.

State Sen. Mark Costello (R-Imogene) and State Rep. David Sieck (R-Glenwood) addressed some of the major pieces of legislation passed or under consideration in the 2024 session, including several related to education.

Sieck said the most contentious and debated issue of the session has been Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desire to overhaul the state’s Area Education Agency (AEA) system. Reynolds’ proposal, announced in January, immediately met criticism and resistance from supporters of the agencies and the resources and services they provide to school districts across the state.

After weeks of hearings, meetings and discussions, the House put together an AEA bill, but it falls short of what Reynolds wants. An AEA bill which comes closer to resembling Reynolds’ proposal is under consideration in the Senate, but Sieck said the House has gone as far as it intends to on the matter.

“We went through an excruciating amount of pain to get there,” Sieck said. “We probably caucused more on that than anything we’ve done this year. We have beat the bushes and the House is down to where it will go. If the governor wants any more than what we have in our bill, we know we can’t go no further than that because we won’t get the votes to go any further and make the bill more than what we put into it because we have had all those extensive conversations with all the players.”

Both Sieck and Costello were critical in the manner in which Reynolds’ proposal was rolled out in January.

“The way it came down, the governor came out with a bill that she dropped on us, which was probably not the best plan,” Costello said.

Costello said lost in the narrative about Reynolds’ AEA proposal is the governor’s concerns about the state’s subpar performance on national testing scores for special education and a lack of transparency when it comes to showing how AEA dollars are being spent.

In the Senate, the AEA bill is tied to a teacher pay package. The House separated the two issues in separate bills. The House bill for teacher pay would raise the salary for first-year teachers to $47,500.

Two members of the forum audience questioned the spending of taxpayer dollars to arm teachers with guns in the classroom. Both said having guns in the classroom poses a potential threat to the safety of students and staff. One of the audience members asked if she was the only person who found it “weird” that the state would fund the purchase of guns for teachers but not some of the essential learning and classroom supplies that many teachers purchase out of their own pockets.

Sieck said he supported the legislation allowing teachers to be armed because it gives school districts a choice on the matter.

“We had several schools that wanted to have their teachers carry arms and a lot who don’t,” Sieck said. “ The bill that was passed allows you to go down that route if you want. It’s a local decision. It is not our decision.”

According to Sieck and Costello, teachers would be required to undergo extensive training and a yearly mental evaluation if they want to be armed in the classroom.

“Those people that are going to carry the gun at the school go through more rigorous training than I can imagine,” Sieck said. “They have to be mentally looked at every year. They got to do this, they got to do that. It’s very complicated. Probably half the teachers won’t pass.”

Sieck said arming teachers is only one component of the need for school safety legislation.

“We’ve really beefed up everything we’re doing to make schools as safe as we can,” he said, “requiring them to work with their local law enforcement, have evacuation plans.

“I have no problems with it. I voted for it. I think that each school district gets to decide and I think it’s important that we put a lot of money into safety and try to figure out solutions.”

Sieck and Costello were asked to share their thoughts on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed by lawmakers.

Republicans say the legislation provides protection for Iowans to practice their religion while Democrats have argued it will open the door to discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community and other individuals.

Sieck said Iowa is one of around 30 states that have passed similar legislation. It mirrors federal law, he added.

“It allows the state to be on the same playing field as the federal government,” he said.

Costello said he supported the bill and cited as an example, a baker who doesn’t want to bake a cake for a lesbian couple because of the baker’s religious beliefs.

“We just think it would give religious rights where it needs to be done,” Costello said. “I think religious rights are important. It’s part of our constitution to have religious freedom, so that’s why we want to provide as much religious freedom as we can.”

Some of other issues discussed at the forum included the struggles cities and counties in Iowa are having meeting their budgets, legislation that prevents the Iowa Department of Natural Resources from buying land at an auction and the state’s investment in mental health services.

Saturday’s legislative coffee was sponsored by the Mills County Chamber of Commerce. The chamber will sponsor another legislative coffee in Malvern on March 30.