Education – Week of April 14, 2011

STAFF CONTACT:  Bridget Godes

SF 453 – High school graduation requirements

HF 493 – Public employee repayment of leave wages

FLOOR ACTION:

SF 453 relates to high school graduation requirements and allows an eighth-grader to take a high school core class and have it count toward graduation requirements. The bill came back from the House with an amendment that would allow any student, not just an eighth-grader, who takes and passes a high school level course to have that course count toward their high school graduation requirements. The Senate accepted the House amendment and sent the bill to the Governor for his signature. [4/7: 49-1 (McKinley “no”)]

HF 493 requires all public employees who were put on administrative leave because they were charged with a felony to pay back wages earned on administrative leave if they are convicted of the felony. This legislation came about as a result of reports that University of Iowa has paid around $460,000 to four faculty members on administrative leave despite one of them being convicted of assaulting a research assistant on campus. An amendment was adopted to expand the scope of the bill to include all public employees, not just teachers and faculty members of colleges. [4/11: 48-0 (Boettger, Hahn “excused”)]