A bill for an act relating to surveys administered to students or school employees.
Summary
SF 217 revises Iowa law governing school-related surveys, with a particular focus on the Iowa youth survey. The bill requires school districts and accredited nonpublic schools to assist the Department of Health and Human Services in administering the Iowa youth survey and to report survey results to both the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services, while prohibiting the inclusion of personally identifiable student information. It also makes conforming changes to provisions affecting charter schools and innovation zone schools so they are subject to the same Iowa youth survey requirements as school districts.
The bill repeals existing Code section 279.79, which currently requires parental written consent before students can be required to participate in certain surveys and restricts school employees and contractors from answering questions about individual students in certain social-emotional surveys unless specified conditions are met. By striking that section and replacing it with a new survey-administration framework, SF 217 shifts the legal structure away from the prior consent-and-restriction model and toward mandatory school participation in the state youth survey process.
Impact
SF 217 would amend chapters governing school district and school-authority duties, add a new section 280.36 on the Iowa youth survey, and repeal section 279.79. Its practical effect is to require school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and innovation zone schools to cooperate with state agencies in administering the biennial survey to students in grades 6, 8, and 11, and to report aggregated results without student-identifying information. It would also remove the current statutory parental-consent framework for certain surveys and eliminate related restrictions tied to social-emotional survey questions, thereby changing the compliance obligations of schools and school employees.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and available context, the measure appears to be framed as an administrative and public-health data collection bill rather than a broad policy overhaul. The committee record provided does not include debate, votes, or testimony, so there is no documented public sentiment in the materials beyond the bill’s introduction and referral to subcommittee. The structure of the bill suggests support for standardized statewide survey administration, but the repeal of existing consent protections indicates that the proposal could draw concern from parents’ rights or privacy advocates.
Contention
The main point of contention is likely the repeal of section 279.79 and the removal of the prior written parental-consent requirement for certain student surveys. Supporters would likely emphasize the need for consistent statewide participation in the Iowa youth survey and improved data for education and health agencies, while opponents may object to reduced parental control, privacy implications, and the broader authority given to schools and state agencies to administer surveys to minors. Another possible concern is the bill’s application to charter schools and innovation zone schools, which are explicitly brought under the same survey obligations as school districts.
A bill for an act relating to mental health resources for students enrolled in school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and innovation zone schools.
A bill for an act relating to firearm, hunting, and wildlife instruction provided to students enrolled in grades six through eight in school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and innovation zone schools, and including applicability provisions.
A bill for an act prohibiting school districts, charter schools, and innovation zone schools from providing any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion, or instruction relating to gender identity or sexual orientation to students in grades seven through twelve.