Kim Reynolds schools, State teachers' union, Iowa City schools suing state

Kim Reynolds schools,  State teachers' union, Iowa City schools suing state.

The Iowa State Education Association and the Iowa City Community School District have filed a lawsuit against the state requirement that schools returning to class must have at least 50% in-person instruction.

During a news conference Wednesday, the ISEA said the governor overstepped her authority when it came to deciding how schools function this fall in the middle of the pandemic.

"They need to return to school in healthy and safe environments," said ISEA President Mike Beranek.

Iowa educators said Gov. Kim Reynolds took authority away from school boards to decide how to return during the pandemic.

The ISEA says neither the governor nor the courts should be able to determine how and when schools open.

"Ultimate authority to determine the content and to effectuate the content of the plan to return to school lies with the individual school board across the state of Iowa," said ISEA General Council Jay Hammond.

Brenda Zahner is the ISEA representative for Siouxland and is aware that some educators feel overruled.

"I know some Sioux City school board members who were upset that their authority was taken away from them to make that decision," said Zahner.

It's unclear how long the court proceedings will take since the lawsuit was just filed Wednesday morning.

With some Siouxland schools already back in the classroom, the lawsuit won't have an immediate effect on learning.

Zahner said the lawsuit comes at a time the ISEA is skeptical of the state COVID-19 testing data, after finding out it was skewed.

"We strongly feel it's a local school board decision that's why those school boards are elected," said Zahner.

The law the governor has cited, repeatedly, is Senate File 2310. The bill unanimously passed the Iowa House and Senate back in June.

Reynolds signed the bill into law two weeks later at the end of June.

The governor has said any school that moves to primarily remote learning without approval-- according to the law-- those days would not count toward instructional time.

Taking a closer look at the law, it says, "any return-to-learn" plan submitted by a school district, or accredited non-public school, must contain provisions for in-person instruction and provide that in-person instruction is the presumed method."

But, the law does not specifically state that 50% of student learning must be done in-person.

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