(Radio Iowa) – Parents, educators, school board members and a couple of students testified at last (Tuesday) night’s public hearing on the governor’s plan to give parents state money to cover private school expenses. Bill backer Jennifer Sulgrove told lawmakers she objected to the curriculum at Pleasant Valley high school in Bettendorf and is now teaching her daughter at home.

“We would have loved to have put her in a private school this year, but the cost is prohibitive,” Sulgrove said. “…As a parent, I want my child to have an education that has an academic rigor and challenges her thinking without crushing her moral compass in the process.” Bernie Scolaro, a retired educator who’s now a member of the Sioux City School Board, says the governor’s bill will chip away at public schools.

“Taking more money away from schools who are already struggling financially will force them eventually to shut down,” she said. “How is that providing more choice for your communities?” Patty Alexander of Indianola, a retired teacher, says public schools are now a monopoly that needs to be broken up.

“Public education has become socially destructive, ruled by selfish elitists that do not care about our family values or our society in general,” Alexander said. Several parents and teachers told lawmakers private schools won’t accept all students as public schools are required to do. Kerry Lust, the mother of three children who attend Ankeny public schools, has a 15 year old son who has been diagnosed with autism and other disabilities.

“The reality is that a private school will not accept my son because of his disabilities,” Lust said. “…When you hear the term ‘school choice,’ remember that private schools have the choice who to accept.”

More than 50 people testified at last (Tuesday) night’s hearing and large crowds gathered around video screens in the Capitol that were broadcasting the hearing. More than 12-hundred people submitted written statements opposing the legislation, with about 430 writing they supported it.

(Radio Iowa) – An effort is underway to name a northeast Iowa highway after a fallen Iowa State Patrol Trooper. Government entities in Winneshiek, Fayette, Buchanan and Benton counties are being asked to show their support to name Highway 150 the Sergeant Jim Smith Memorial Highway.

ISP Sgt. Jim Smith

Smith, who resided in Independence, was killed in the line of duty on April ninth of 2021 while attempting to arrest a barricaded subject in Grundy Center. Highway 150 begins in Calmar in Winneshiek County and runs south through Vinton in Benton County.

(Radio Iowa) – The governor’s bill to establish state funded accounts for the parents of private school students will bypass the House committees that review spending and tax issues. House Speaker Pat Grassley says he created the new, five member Education Reform Committee to review and then advance the bill to a vote in the House — so it didn’t get blocked in a committee.

“For two sessions now that has been the case,” Grassley says. “We feel that Iowans have an expectation, whether you support it or you don’t, that a committee procedure should not be the reason you don’t get to see where the legislature stands.” Groups that represent educators, administrators and public school districts object to having the plan skip traditional committee review. Margaret Buckton, a lobbyist for the Rural School Advocates of Iowa AND the Urban Education Network, says the normal process gives the public time to understand and comment on bills.

“And legislation this year coming out of the Ed Reform Committee is likely to have a significant impact on the state budget,” Buckton says, “somewhere in the neighborhood of $300-$400 million annually.” Grassley says the five-member House Education Reform Committee will have open debate of the tax and spending implications of the plan — and the panel is holding a public hearing tonight (Tuesday).

“House Republicans are being as transparent, in fact what beyond what even the rules would call for in the Education Reform Committee process, so I don’t want this to be an argument (about) trying to hide anything or sneak anything through,” Grassley said. House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says changing the rules for Republican Governor Kim Reynolds’ top legislative priority is wrong.

“Frankly, we’re supposed to be an independent body that doesn’t work for the governor and if the governor wants to push this through, she can do that,” Konfrst says. “This is not our role to rush this through for anyone else.” Tonight’s (Tuesday’s) 90-minute public hearing on the governor’s “school choice” plan begins at 5 p.m. Members of the public will be given up to two minutes each to address the committee.

(Radio Iowa) – The town of Fayette in northeast Iowa is still without a Fire Chief after the City Council rejected the nomination of firefighters for the job a second time during their meeting Monday.

The department members recommended long-time Chief Jason Rohde both times and failed to gain a motion from the city council to accept the recommendation. Mayor Kurt Wood tells KCRG TV the City Council is looking to move the fire department in a new direction, one in which hopefully the number of volunteers grows.

“I know there’s a concern on my part and the part of City Council on the number of people we have,” Mayor Wood says. “There is a concern about the future direction.” Wood declined to comment on Rohde specifically. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that,” Wood said.

Rohde told KCRG TV in a phone interview he thought he wasn’t getting the backing of the City Council because of “perceived personnel problems.” Wood says the Council understands the issue with finding volunteers in Fayette.“We have an aging demographic, we also have a declining demographic,” Wood said. But it’s clear the council doesn’t want the long-time firefighter to be a part of a long-term solution. The Fire Department currently only has nine volunteer firefighters.

With the weather forecast for Wednesday, the Clarinda Police Department would like to remind the citizens of Clarinda about the snow ordinance. The ordinance states that; no person shall park any motor vehicle or other apparatus upon any street of the city that will obstruct the removal of snow when there has been an accumulation of two (2) inches or more. Any vehicle left parked on any street in violation of this ordinance may be impounded, and the registered owner of the vehicle will be subject to a $30.00 parking fine, and payment of all applicable towing and storage fee before the vehicle is released.

The parking ban remains in effect until the snow ceases to fall and the streets have been plowed from curb to curb.

(Radio Iowa) – Three members of the Iowa House have voted to advance a bill that would make it a felony to use “movie money” to buy things in Iowa. Representative Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids went online and found a bundle of fake 100 dollar bills cost seven dollars. “This is motion picture money and it looks a lot like real money,” Jones says, “but what’s happening is people are buying this in bundles on Amazon and using it to purchase goods and services.” A business owner in northwest Iowa contacted Jones after an employee mistakenly accepted fake “movie prop money” for a large purchase. “It looks a lot like real money, but in the same font, the same size it’ll say, ‘For motion picture use only’ or on the back in some little letters it’ll say, ‘Copy,” Jones says, “so the argument in court then is that this is clearly not money and so they shouldn’t have taken it as legal tender, but it was purported to be by the customer.”

The bill defines “movie prop money” as fake bills used by filmmakers and photographers in theatrical productions or in print, like magazines.

If the bill becomes law, someone convicted of using “movie prop money” to buy goods or services could be sentenced to up to five years in an Iowa prison and ordered to pay a fine of up to 75-hundred dollars. Making or using counterfeit bills that have no markings indicating they are fake is a FEDERAL crime. It carries a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.