Bill would let county attorneys sue school boards, superintendents to enforce laws

Civil lawsuits could be brought against school boards and superintendents for not complying with state laws under a bill discussed by a Senate subcommittee Tuesday.

Senate File 178 proposes allowing a county attorney to bring a civil lawsuit against a school’s superintendent or board of directors if a person residing in the school district believes the school is not complying with state laws. While there is an existing appeals process for schools not complying with state laws conducted through the Iowa Department of Education and other state entities, Shellie Flockhart, a parent, said “it seems you only get so far” using this process.

Flockhart said she is in the midst of a dispute in her home school district in Dallas County for allegedly not following a state law dealing with diversity, equity and inclusion, and that while she has brought up problems with the curriculum, that she has not seen changes despite notifying authorities that the school was not in compliance.

“There’s agreement, agreement, agreement, agreement on a law that is not being followed,” she said. “But then there’s nothing that actually happens, no resolution.”

She called for the bill to be amended to allow private citizens to bring lawsuits against school leaders instead of going through the local county attorney.

However, education advocates said there is already a process in place to report schools that are violating state laws, and that they believe the handling of these matters should remain with the state. Michelle Johnson with the Iowa Association of School Boards said to their knowledge, no Iowa school boards are adopting policies that conflict with state law — but  there are circumstances where this could occur.

“The only time we think that a board would be in conflict with state law is if they’re following federal law, which prevails over state law,” Johnson said. “So maybe that’s where there’s some conflict or issue here. We think then that’s basically setting boards up to fail if they’re, you know, forced to choose between state and federal law.”

Sen. Doug Campbell, R-Mason City, said the appeals system has been tested repeatedly “with no resolution, no satisfaction to the taxpayer and the parents of our school system” when schools are in violation of state law.

“That’s what brought this legislation forth, is, we have a system, the system does not work,” Campbell said. “… This is not intended to be punitive, this is to be instructional and motivational. If we take it to the extreme, it will have some mild punitive effect.”

Sen. Mike Zimmer, D-Dewitt, said the fact that individuals may have been unsatisfied with the results of their appeals did not mean the system was not functioning.

“Just because someone doesn’t get a decision that they agree with doesn’t mean that the process doesn’t work,” Zimmer said.

The bill moved forward to the full Senate Education Committee with Campbell and Sen. Jeff Taylor supporting the measure.