DES MOINES — Bipartisan negotiators agreed Wednesday to spend $897.7 million on public education next year, but question marks remain on key proposals related to education reform. The education appropriations bill covers spending for the department of education, the state’s three public universities, its special schools and a host of other programs. State aid for [...]

DES MOINES — Teachers who teach teachers will likely see changes in what they’re requiring of their students and what their deans require of them after a near-unanimous vote Thursday by the Iowa State Board of Education. Iowa is on the front lines of the push for national education standards, whether it’s adoption of a [...]

A former power company executive says several people have urged him to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tom Harkin, but he’d rather talk about education. Mark Jacobs used to be at the helm of Reliant Energy, but now he’s the founder and sole funder of Reaching Higher Iowa, a group [...]

The Iowa Board of Regents will choose a new board president at the June meeting, after three members took part in their last meeting Thursday. The six-year terms of three regents — Craig Lang, of Brooklyn; David Miles, of Dallas Center; and Jack Evans, of Cedar Rapids — end April 30. Lang, the board president, [...]

DES MOINES — Teacher evaluations have emerged as one of key divisions between Republican and Democratic lawmakers looking to make a deal on education reform. Thursday saw a flurry of activity by members of the House-Senate conference committee with two proposals being offered — one from Democrats to Republicans in the morning and one going the other way in [...]

DES MOINES – Conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats said Thursday his Family Leader ally Robert Cramer was the victim of an unconstitutional religious “litmus test” in calling for Gov. Terry Branstad and Senate Democrats to “re-vote” on his confirmation to the state Board of Regents. While noting that such a confirmation reconsideration would be “atypical [...]

Despite a confirmation process that became partisan, the state Board of Regents will continue to try and make the best decisions for Iowa’s three public universities and work to keep political fallout from impacting the board, one regent leader said Tuesday. Gov. Terry Branstad, meanwhile, said he will find appointments to fill two seats on [...]

Members of the state Board of Regents would be subject to closer public scrutiny and more transparency in their decision-making processes under legislation approved 49-1 by the Iowa Senate on Tuesday. “This is a bill whose time has come,” said Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, floor manager for Senate File 407, a measure which proposes several [...]

The old way of calculating a school’s capacity no longer applies in the 21st century, a consultant for the Iowa City school district said Monday night. That means how many students a school should hold also has changed, Sam Johnson of BLDD Architects, told a district committee made up of public and community members. That [...]

University of Iowa medical student Shady Henien will meet with Gov. Terry Branstad next week to promote a plan that Henien thinks could help ease student loan repayment burdens after medical school. Henien, 27, already has met with several U.S. congressman in Washington D.C. to discuss his plan, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from [...]