Call to Action: April 2, 2026 - Student Behavior (SF 2428) on the House Debate Calendar for Monday

Background: The Senate passed SF 2428 Student Behavior, 45 to 0. The House Education Committee passed it 17 to 6, to move it beyond the second funnel. It has been on the House Calendar as the House and Senate have been negotiating behind the scenes. The bill is now listed on the House Debate Calendar for Monday. We would expect to see an amendment filed before they debate it, but at this point, we are not aware of what compromises have been reached. UEN is primarily opposed to the Senate’s requirement to appoint a committee of two teachers and one administrator, which must convene and assess every removal of a student from the classroom to determine when the student is allowed to return to the classroom. The House version, HF 2538, requires a similar committee to help develop the policy and procedures for classroom removal and return, but does not require the Committee to convene before any child is returned to the classroom, leaving that primarily under the Principal’s authority after discussing with the teacher. HF 2538 is currently on the Senate Calendar, having been approved unanimously by the Senate Education Committee.

House and Senate Differences: Both bills change all references in current law, from making a threat of violence or causing an incident of violence that results in injury or property damage to an incident of non-violent or violent disruption.

Both bills require districts to comply with federal laws governing IEPs and students with disabilities. Most of the stories being shared by teachers involving incidents of injury and violent disruption likely involve students with IEPs, so there are challenges in setting the expectation that teachers should have authority to remove a student and prevent them from returning to the classroom when the federal law requires FAPE (free and appropriate public education) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). The IEP often includes strategies or accommodations to prevent escalation or diffuse extreme emotional behavior.

We support the provision of professional development tools to help everyone in the system better understand IEPs, FAPEs, and LREs. UEN leaders appreciate attention to classroom behavior, understand the need for consistency and training, and, most importantly, seek to protect students and staff from harm.

Advocacy Actions:

Contact your Representatives today and ask them to support an amendment to remove the costly Oversight Committee from the Senate’s bill. Talking points about the Committee:

• This Oversight Committee is likely impossible to implement in a timely manner. Meanwhile, the student is prohibited from returning to the classroom until it does.
• Pulling two teachers out of their classrooms for every behavior incident is unfair and disruptive to their students.
• In some districts, where there are multiple removals, additional substitute teachers or other adults will have to fill in while the Oversight Committee reviews and deliberates over the conditions of returning the student to the classroom. Paying these additional staff is a costly, unfunded mandate.
• If the Oversight Committee cannot meet until after school or the next day due to a lack of substitutes, the student who was removed may not have an appropriate placement available to support them in the meantime. Additional staff will be required to provide spaces for students removed from classrooms to wait. Paying these additional staff is a costly, unfunded mandate.
• For a student with an IEP, removal from the classroom starts the 10-day limitation clock for removal under federal law. We are unclear about what provisions will actually apply to students with IEPs and 504 plans.
• We do not believe the Oversight Committee is the best way to reflect teacher voice in the process and prefer the House’s language in HF 2538, which provides that each attendance center form a committee to develop policies and procedures for returning students to the classroom.

Find your Representatives here: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/house. Better yet, reach out to them at home this weekend. If you haven’t heard from them by Monday at 1:00, call and leave a message at the House Switchboard for your Representative (515) 281-3221. Send a specific email to your Representative with your request. Please let us know if you receive any commitments of support back from your local legislators.

Thank you for your advocacy on behalf of the students and families in your school district!