DES MOINES – Iowa lawmakers approved a sweeping reform package Wednesday which changes the way thousands of teachers across the state will be paid, promoted and evaluated. The bill – approved unanimously in the House and 40-10 in the Senate – now goes to the governor for his signature. It also marks the end of a [...]

DES MOINES – Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass was named superintendent of the Eagle County School District on a 5-0 vote Wednesday night. Reached by phone shortly after the vote, Glass said he’ll begin his new job on July 1, pending contract negotiations. Gov. Terry Branstad sought out the now-41-year-old Glass to shape [...]

DES MOINES — It was supposed to be one of Gov. Terry Branstad’s signature pieces of legislation this year. But the governor’s anti-bullying bill couldn’t even get enough support from members of his own party to get a vote on the House floor. Anti-bullying advocates were left deflated and defeated when it became apparent that the [...]

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 [...]

DES MOINES — Legislation aimed at helping some Iowa border communities compete with neighboring states is on its way to the governor. The targeted jobs program allows qualifying businesses to apply for state withholding tax credits if they plan to relocate or expand in Iowa, provided they are creating or retaining jobs. The tax credit equals [...]

Saketh Undurty describes the competition robot, Orion, the team built for the FIRST Tech Challenge. Team members, from left, Jordan Burklund, Sidd Somayajula and Chase Schweitzer are at the controls.   DES MOINES — A competition-winning robotics team from Valley High School in West Des Moines joined Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds Monday to help promote STEM initiatives. STEM [...]

DES MOINES — U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, will not seek the Republican nomination for retiring U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin’s seat. In an e-mail to supporters Friday night, King, who represents the 4th district, wrote that he did his “due diligence … from a statewide, objective perspective” and determined he needed to stay in Congress. His e-mail explains [...]

DES MOINES – Iowa abortion providers would lose all Medicaid funding if they continue to offer the service under legislation approved by the House Wednesday. The provision – which makes an exception for hospitals – was amended into the Health and Human Services bill on a near party-line vote, with Democrat Nancy Dunkel of Dubuque [...]

DES MOINES — Nearly a quarter of the state’s school districts budgeted for a 4 percent increase in state aid for next year, even though lawmakers have yet to sign off on exactly how much they’re willing to spend. State aid is also called allowable growth. It’s a percentage increase of the state per-pupil cost to be [...]

DES MOINES — A House committee pushed through Gov. Terry Branstad’s Healthy Iowa plan Monday even as some members of the majority Republican Party expressed misgivings about the plan. “I’m being a good soldier,” said Rep. Dave Heaton, R-Mount Pleasant. “Today I helped move the bill forward at the governor’s request and when it comes to [...]

DES MOINES — Education reform is at a standstill in the Statehouse with the politically rocky issue of teacher evaluations one of the main stumbling blocks. Specifically, Gov. Terry Branstad’s education reform proposal, which was picked almost whole hog by the Republican-controlled House, calls for reviews of teachers that include a way to tie student test scores [...]

DES MOINES — Two law enforcement officers and the founder of a battered women’s shelter received state awards Thursday. U.S. Postal Inspector Tina Nobis of Waterloo, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Mike Roehrkasse of Cedar Falls and Mary Ingham, executive director of the Crisis Intervention Service in Mason City, earned awards for their work [...]

Supporters of the religious conservative Family Leader held a rally and lobbying day Tuesday at the Statehouse to encourage lawmakers to cut money from the state budget that could go to abortion providers. “They work for you, you do not work for them,” said Danny Carroll, a former state lawmaker who now lobbies on social [...]

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 — Sarah Montgomery found out Thursday afternoon she’ll finish the final half year of her 4.5-year course of study to become a state-certified teacher in Des Moines and Ankeny. “I got placed at Carver Elementary School in Des Moines, and I’m also going to be at an elementary school in Ankeny!” the 22-year-old [...]

Lawmakers working out a compromise education reform bill promised Tuesday to move quickly as an April 15 deadline looms for school districts around the state to certify their budgets. But the five Republicans and five Democrats who make up the conference committee have yet to get into actual negotiations on the legislation. That may happen [...]

Republican U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said the race to replace Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin would be an “uphill battle” for any Republican who runs. King, who has more than a decade in Congress, made the comment during a taping Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program Friday, where he was peppered with questions about [...]

DES MOINES – Details of Gov. Terry Branstad’s Medicaid alternative hit the House floor Thursday in a 21-page bill that calls for the creation of personal rewards accounts and that would cost $23 million from the state general fund in its first year. “This plan is a plan that incentivizes people to take ownership of [...]

UPDATE: Gov. Terry Branstad will pick the next state auditor to fill out the term of David Vaudt, who announced Thursday that he is stepping down next month. Vaudt, 59, was named chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board beginning on July 1, but the three-term Republican auditor plans to move to Norwalk, Conn., on [...]

DES MOINES — Iowa, it seems, has become a destination for companies that want to produce ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Gov. Terry Branstad has announced two such deals, one in Lee County and one in Woodbury County, each requiring more than a billion dollars in corporate investment in the past 12 months. There’s also talk of a [...]