House File 2545 - Reprinted HOUSE FILE 2545 BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION (SUCCESSOR TO HF 2329) (As Amended and Passed by the House February 28, 2024 ) A BILL FOR An Act requiring the director of the department of education to 1 conduct a comprehensive review of the state’s high school 2 graduation requirements, core curriculum, core content 3 standards, and educational standards and to recommend policy 4 changes, and including effective date provisions. 5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 6 HF 2545 (2) 90 jda/jh/md

H.F. 2545 Section 1. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION —— COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW 1 OF IOWA EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS —— RECOMMENDED REVISIONS. 2 1. The director of the department of education shall 3 conduct a comprehensive review of the high school graduation 4 requirements and core curriculum established pursuant to 5 section 256.7, subsection 26, the core content standards 6 established pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 28, and 7 the educational standards established in section 256.11. 8 The comprehensive review shall be designed to generate 9 recommendations for policy changes to be included in the report 10 required under subsection 3. The recommendations for policy 11 changes shall include all of the following: 12 a. A plan to regularly review and revise the core content 13 standards focused on English language arts, mathematics, 14 science, and social studies, with a focus on United States 15 history, western civilization, and civics. 16 b. A plan to make Iowa’s educational standards the best in 17 the nation. 18 c. Input from relevant stakeholders, including parents and 19 teachers. 20 d. A plan to increase the quality of the instructional 21 curriculum. 22 e. A plan to maximize local flexibility in graduation 23 requirements and course offerings while maintaining a goal that 24 all high school graduates have necessary skills at graduation. 25 f. Identification of opportunities to equip high school 26 graduates with sufficient knowledge of civics and United States 27 history, including the principles reflected in the Constitution 28 of the United States, so that high school graduates are capable 29 of discharging the responsibilities associated with United 30 States citizenship. 31 g. A statewide literacy plan to increase student 32 proficiency using systematic and sequential approaches to 33 teaching phonetic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and 34 text comprehension. 35 -1- HF 2545 (2) 90 jda/jh/md 1/ 3

H.F. 2545 2. The director of the department of education shall ensure 1 that the core curriculum established pursuant to section 256.7, 2 subsection 26, the core content standards established pursuant 3 to section 256.7, subsection 28, and the educational standards 4 established in section 256.11, comply with section 279.74. 5 3. The comprehensive review described in subsection 1 shall 6 include all of the following: 7 a. Providing the opportunity for the public and interested 8 stakeholders to provide comments related to the comprehensive 9 review, including comments related to each graduation 10 requirement, core content standard, and educational requirement 11 by grade level, at each committee meeting convened pursuant to 12 this subsection. 13 b. Collecting and considering the comments provided 14 pursuant to paragraph “a”. 15 c. (1) Convening committees to assist in the comprehensive 16 review and provide recommendations related to the subject areas 17 in the educational standards established in section 256.11. 18 (2) The director of the department of education shall 19 determine the membership of each committee; provided, however, 20 that each committee shall include four members of the general 21 assembly with one member designated by each of the following: 22 the president of the senate, the minority leader of the senate, 23 the speaker of the house of representatives, and the minority 24 leader of the house of representatives. A legislative member 25 serves in an ex officio, nonvoting capacity. 26 4. a. The director of the department of education shall 27 submit an initial report, including initial findings and 28 recommendations for policy changes, to the governor and the 29 general assembly on or before December 31, 2024. 30 b. The director of the department of education shall submit 31 a final report, including findings and recommendations for 32 policy changes, to the governor and the general assembly on or 33 before July 1, 2025. 34 Sec. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act, being deemed of immediate 35 -2- HF 2545 (2) 90 jda/jh/md 2/ 3