Signed by Governor Kim Reynolds

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with House amendments and further amend a bill that establishes educational instructional requirements for online learning.

Highlights:

• Requires each school district and accredited nonpublic school to include in its comprehensive school improvement plan a list and description of online coursework offered by the school district in which the student is enrolled (Sec. 1).

• Requires online learning coursework offered by a school district or accredited nonpublic school and area education agency to be rigorous, high-quality, aligned with the Iowa core and core content requirements and standards, and the national standards of quality for online courses issued by an internationally recognized association for kindergarten through grade 12 online learning, and taught by a licensed teacher (Sec. 3).

• Authorizes the following list of approved online providers to provide an online learning platform for students and teachers, including but not limited to (Sec. 4):

• An online-learning-for-Iowa-educators-professional-development project offered by area education agencies;

• A teacher pre-service program; or

• Comparable coursework.

• Authorizes local education agencies, separately or in collaboration with other area education agencies, or in partnership with school districts and accredited nonpublic schools, to provide online learning programs to deliver distance education to Iowa’s secondary students (Sec. 8).

• Specifies that beginning July 1, 2020, and ending June 30, 2021, any instruction provided with a return-to-learn plan submitted by a school district or accredited nonpublic school to the department of education in response to a proclamation of a public health disaster emergency issued by the governor related to COVID-19, will be deemed to meet the aforementioned requirements regardless of the nature, location, or medium of instruction if the plan contains the minimum number of days or hours required (Sec. 9).

• Extends the time period for parents or legal guardians to notify the school district on whether they intend to enroll their child in an online public school in another school district, from July 1, 2020, to July 15, 2020, if the child, another resident of the child’s residence, or a regular caretaker of the child has a significant health condition that increases the risk of COVID-19 (Sec. 12).

• Requires the aforementioned notification to include the name of the individual with the health condition, the specific health condition with written documentation from the individual’s physician or licensed health care provider, and whether the individual is a resident at the child’s residence or a regular caretaker (Sec. 12).

• Authorizes the superintendent of the receiving school district to approve the aforementioned parent enrollment notification and notify the parent or guardian within 14 days on whether their request has been approved or denied (Sec. 12).

• Requires school districts, beginning with the July 1, 2020 school year and ending June 30, 2021, upon request of a parent or legal guardian or custodian, to provide to children receiving competent private instruction, available texts or supplementary materials on the same basis that they are provided to regularly enrolled students, when the child is under dual enrollment or a home school assistance program (Sec. 13).

• Authorizes a board of directors of a school district to close a school district or any school district attendance center due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the school district or any school district attendance center (Sec. 14).

• Specifies that any child enrolled in a school district or accredited nonpublic school that does not participate in compulsory remote-learning opportunities, including online learning, electronic learning, distance learning, or virtual learning offered by the school district or accredited nonpublic school during the July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be considered truant (Sec. 16).

• Authorizes the board of directors of each school district to allow, to the extent possible, in-person instruction for core academic subjects (Sec. 18).

• Amends previous education requirements to authorize a student who meets all other graduation requirements to graduate without meeting the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification requirements (Sec. 18).

• Requires school districts and accredited nonpublic schools to make reasonable accommodations to students, on a case-by-case basis, to attend school through remote learning if the child, another resident of the child’s residence, or a regular caretaker of the child has a significant health condition that increases the risk of COVID-19 (Sec. 18).

Full Bill Text