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Read. Follow. Verify.Iowa Senate File 520 Modifies Community College Reporting, Specialized School Employee Rules, and Instructor Contracts
Last action · April 22, 2025: Withdrawn. S.J. 852 .
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What This Bill Proposed
Senate File 520 shifts community college data reporting directly to the Department of Education, applies specific teacher discharge and contract rules to employees of the Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired Program and the Iowa School for the Deaf, and redefines which community college instructors qualify as teachers under employment contract laws.
The measure establishes standardized compensation schedules for specialized state school staff and alters how community college faculty contracts and institutional reporting are regulated across Iowa.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Community colleges
Community colleges must submit annual fiscal and student data directly to the Department of Education and adhere to updated definitions for instructor employment contracts.
Employees of the Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired Program and the Iowa School for the Deaf
Employees are subject to specific teacher discharge procedures and an annual compensation schedule established by the Department of Administrative Services.
Community college instructors and faculty
Instructors are subject to revised statutory definitions determining whether they qualify as teachers under employment contract laws based on credit-hour workloads.
Key Facts
- Community colleges are required to submit annual fiscal and individual-level data directly to the Department of Education instead of the community colleges bureau.
- Financial data submitted by community colleges must be broken down by fund and included in an annual condition of community colleges report submitted to the state board and general assembly.
- Postsecondary institutions providing programming under Chapter 261E must include K-12 unique student identifiers in their data management systems and report STEM enrollment proportions for females and minorities.
- Discharge and termination procedures under Code section 279.27 apply to employees of the Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired Program and the Iowa School for the Deaf who are licensed or responsible for the care, instruction, or supervision of children.
Show all 7 facts
- The Department of Administrative Services, in consultation with the Department of Education, must establish an annual compensation schedule and set employee benefits for staff at the Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired Program and the Iowa School for the Deaf.
- For community colleges, instructors and faculty members are classified as teachers under contract laws if their instruction results in credit hours and constitutes more than one-half of their workload.
- Adjunct instructors, continuing education instructors, and noncredit instructors are explicitly excluded from the definition of a teacher under community college employment contract statutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who receives the annual data submissions from community colleges under the bill?
Which community college instructors are considered 'teachers' for employment contract purposes?
Who sets the annual compensation schedule for employees at the Iowa School for the Deaf?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Withdrawn.
Procedural history
12 actions- Apr 22, 2025SenateWithdrawn. S.J. 852 .
- Apr 22, 2025SenateHF 890 substituted. S.J. 851 .
- Apr 22, 2025SenateFloorAmendment S-3118 filed, adopted. S.J. 851 .
- Apr 3, 2025SenatePlaced on calendar under unfinished business. S.J. 689 .
- Mar 18, 2025SenateAttached to HF 890 . S.J. 555 .
- Mar 5, 2025SenateCommittee report, approving bill. S.J. 424 .
Show 6 earlier actions
- Mar 5, 2025SenateIntroducedIntroduced, placed on calendar. S.J. 418 .
- Mar 4, 2025Iowa LegislatureCommittee report approving bill, renumbered as SF 520 .
- Feb 19, 2025Iowa LegislatureSubcommittee recommends passage.
- Feb 17, 2025SenateSubcommittee Meeting: 02/19/2025 12:30PM Senate Lounge.
- Feb 12, 2025Iowa LegislatureSubcommittee: Taylor, Garrett, and Trone Garriott.
- Jan 30, 2025Iowa LegislatureIntroducedIntroduced, referred to Education.
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legis.iowa.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 50)
- Controversy15Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz20Current news / social attention level
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