Fiscal Note
Fiscal Services Division
SF 496 – Education, Parental Rights and School Transparency (LSB1274SV)
Staff Contact: Simon Sheaff (515.281.4611) simon.sheaff@legis.iowa.gov
Fiscal Note Version – New
Description
Senate File 496 makes a number of changes to required school library operations, school
curriculum, school transparency, and special education services.
The Bill requires the Department of Education (DE) to adopt administrative rules that require
school districts, charter schools, and innovation zone schools to periodically review materials
currently in their libraries and any material being added to the library for obscene or sexually
explicit material. The Bill requires the board of directors of a school district to notify the DE of
any book that is removed from a school library because the book is deemed to contain obscene
or sexually explicit material. The DE is required to maintain a list of such books, and school
districts are prohibited from allowing a student to access a book on the list unless the school
district has received prior written consent from the student’s parent or guardian.
The Bill also provides for a number of curriculum changes, mostly to human growth and
development curriculum. Specifically, the Bill prohibits any instruction by a school district,
charter school, or innovation zone school regarding gender identity or human sexuality before
grade five, or grade six if grade six is taught in elementary school. The Bill also removes
language relating to certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In addition, the Bill requires
students to pass the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services civics test as part of
required United States government classes.
The Bill requires school districts, charter schools, and innovation zone schools to obtain prior
written consent of a student’s parent or guardian before requiring a student to participate in any
survey or formal assessment that is designed to assess a student’s mental, emotional, or
physical health, or that would reveal information about the student or student’s parents,
including information about political affiliations, mental or psychological problems, sexual
behavior, illegal or antisocial behavior, religion, income, and more. The Bill makes an exception
for surveys required by State or federal law, but requires schools to provide seven days’ written
notice to the student’s parent or guardian before administering such surveys. School districts
are also prohibited from releasing information about students without receiving parental
consent.
The Bill requires school districts to publish the following information online:
• A list of all materials that will be used to teach students in each class in the school district,
sortable by subject area, grade level, and teacher.
• A list of all books available to students in the classrooms and libraries operated by the
school district.
• A detailed explanation of the procedures or policies in effect for the parent or guardian of a
student enrolled in the school district to request the removal of any educational material
from a classroom or school library.
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• A list of every person in direct contact with students in the school district who contracts with
or otherwise receives moneys from the board of directors of the school district.
The Bill asserts that a parent or guardian bears ultimate responsibility and has the
constitutionally protected right to make decisions affecting their minor child, including decisions
related to medical care, moral upbringing, religious upbringing, residence, education, and
extracurricular activities. The Bill also enumerates some of these rights specifically, including:
• Requiring a school district to notify a student’s parent or guardian if any employee
reasonably believes that the student has expressed a gender identity that is different than
the biological sex listed on the student’s birth certificate. If the school district is aware of
specific threats to student safety that may occur as a result of such a disclosure, the school
is not permitted to notify the parents, but is instead required to contact the Department of
Health and Human Services.
• Permitting the parent or guardian of a student to access and review any school record
concerning the parent’s or guardian’s child unless the record is specifically prohibited from
being disclosed.
• Prohibiting school employees from referring to a student by a name or pronouns that do not
correspond to the biological sex listed on the child’s birth certificate without explicit written
consent from the student’s parent or guardian.
• Prohibiting school districts from requiring a student to engage in any activity or instruction
provided by a guest lecturer or any activity or instruction that involves obscene or sexually
explicit material without the explicit written consent of the student’s parent or guardian.
Schools are required to provide notice of any such activity or instruction to parents or
guardians at least seven days prior to the activity or instruction.
• Violations of these requirements carry penalties of a written warning for the first violation
and a formal review by the Board of Educational Examiners for any subsequent violation.
The Bill also makes changes to the administration of special education. These changes include:
• Removing the requirement that students identified as requiring special education who wish
to receive private competent instruction receive the permission of the local Area Education
Agency (AEAs).
• Allowing the parent, guardian, or legal custodian of a student identified as requiring special
education to request dual enrollment.
Background
Some school district transparency provisions in the Bill may require software upgrades for
school districts. In order to administer the transparency provisions, school districts would
require a publicly accessible Learning Content Management System and a publicly accessible
Integrated Library System. The Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) conducted a survey
in 2022 showing the current capabilities of school districts and the average cost of each system,
as shown in Table 1:
Table 1
Current School Software Capabilities
Yes No Average Cost
Online Learning Content Management
System 93.4% 6.6% $37,000
Publicly accessible online Integrated
Library System 54.5% 45.5% $16,000
Source: Iowa Association of School Boards 2022 Survey
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9.6% of the school districts that reported having an online Learning Content Management
System said that the system was only in use at the high school level.
Assumptions
• According to DE statistics, for the 2022-2023 school year, there were 37,775 full-time
teachers.
• Each teacher will require time to organize and prepare materials for posting. The time a
teacher will need is based on a number of factors, such that a reliable average cannot be
estimated.
• The cost of hiring additional contract hours for teachers is variable across the State. Many
school districts pay a per diem, which is prorated to the teacher’s salary.
• According to DE statistics, the average salary of a teacher in Iowa is $61,132.
• The cost of a substitute teacher to release one teacher for one day is estimated to be $160,
based on publicly available information.
• Dual enrollment and online classwork are not included in the requirements.
• It is unclear whether the requirements to posting of materials would apply to online classes,
concurrent enrollment classes, or other coursework provided through a higher education
institution.
• Additional permissions and costs may be required for the posting of materials that are from
course providers outside of the school district.
Fiscal Impact
The changes to school curriculum, school survey requirements, parents’ rights in education, and
special education will have no fiscal impact to the State or to school districts. The changes to
school library operation, specifically to the requirements to review materials, may involve some
staff time which would be a cost to school districts, but such costs cannot be estimated.
The educational materials transparency measures will have no fiscal impact to the State, but will
have a fiscal impact to school districts. The requirement of the Bill to make information sortable
requires an interactive database, which may be beyond the current capabilities of school district
software and systems. Additional administrative costs may be required to support the software
and systems and support internal and external users. These costs cannot be estimated and
would vary by school district.
School districts may need to provide classroom coverage for the time teachers would need to
prepare materials for posting or add additional contract days for completion of the work.
Table 2 summarizes the costs depending on which option school districts choose and the
average number of days required to complete the task.
Table 2
Fiscal Impact of Transparency Measures to School Districts
Average Cost if Hiring Additional Cost if Hiring Substitute
Days Contract Hours Teachers
1 $ 12,465,750 $ 6,044,000
2 24,931,500 12,088,000
3 37,397,250 18,132,000
4 49,863,000 24,176,000
5 62,328,750 30,220,000
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Sources
Iowa Association of School Boards
Iowa Department of Education
Iowa State Education Association
Legislative Services Agency
/s/ Jennifer Acton
March 20, 2023
Doc ID 1370427
The fiscal note for this Bill was prepared pursuant to Joint Rule 17 and the Iowa Code. Data used in developing this
fiscal note is available from the Fiscal Services Division of the Legislative Services Agency upon request.
www.legis.iowa.gov
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Statutes affected:
Introduced: 256.7, 256.9, 279.79, 256.11, 256E.7, 279.76, 279.77, 299A.9
Reprinted: 256.11, 256.17, 256E.7, 279.76, 279.78, 279.80, 272.2, 299A.9
Enrolled: 256.11, 256.17, 256E.7, 279.76, 279.78, 279.80, 299A.9