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SAI Weekly Legislative Update – March 14, 2025
The action at the Capitol slowed quite a bit in week 9, following the funnel week. It gives us some time to take a deep breath and refocus on our priorities.
Late last week the Senate and House released identical Property Tax bills. SSB 1208 and HSB 313. Superintendents received a quick update last week in what we believe is in the bill. A couple of points of clarity about that document:
- We believe that the bill may be revenue neutral, using some current budget line items to cover the increase in the state’s coverage.
- The impact on both PPEL options may be minimal as those levies will be subject to a cap limit.
Legislators plan to get feedback on the legislation and then start discussing it in earnest in a couple of weeks. There is a lot to look at in the legislation and there are a lot of moving parts. We don’t foresee massive changes that will negatively impact school districts, but we will continue to analyze and discuss. There will be changes to the bill moving forward, so stay tuned.
On Thursday, the Revenue Estimating Conference met and released their findings and predictions. As expected, they lowered revenue estimations slightly for FY25 and by a larger amount for FY26. On a positive note, FY27 estimates were much better.
Finally, the House District 100 election in Lee County was completed. Republican Blaine Watkins was elected to fill the seat of Representative Graber, who recently died.
Below are the bill actions that took place this week.
Signed by the Governor
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SF 171 — Corrects time constraints for districts in the dissolution process. (Orient-Macksburg)
Bills Voted Out of the Senate(Sent to House)
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SF277 — Chronic absenteeism fix. (passed 47-0)
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SF 176 — Allows virtual school students to participate in extracurricular activities in their resident district. (Passed 47-0)
Bills Voted Out of the House (Sent to Senate)
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HF 315 — allows another year of Budget Guarantee for districts that have experienced a natural disaster. (passed 88-1)
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HF 316 — Requires career instruction in middle school and creates credential seals and certificates for HS students. (passed 61-28)
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HF 513 — Allows 8th grade students to participate in HS sports. (passed 89-2)
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HF 393 — Eliminates the requirement to count dropouts twice in DE data. (passed 89-2)
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HF 515 — Raises operational sharing weighting from 2-4 for SROs. (passed 95-0)
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HF 579 — Dropout Prevention equity process; requires a vote and limits increase to .5% per year. (passed 92-4)
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HF 299 — Requires school districts to provide information to parents about immunization waiver possibilities. (passed 58-30)
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HF 783 — Creates a Conference Realignment Committee for athletic conferences. (passed 95-0)
Advocacy Points
- We continue to wait on an SSA compromise. Keep working on that, as you are able.
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HSB 156 is now HF 929. It is the instructional materials bill that we have discussed in previous reports. Continue to educate others about the reality of the impact this bill would have on your district.
- Continue to pay attention to some of the bills that we need to ‘tamp down”. Bill numbers will change, and some will be moving from one chamber to another.
- Attend any forums in your districts and talk to your legislators about the issues.
Final Thought
Things have slowed down at the capitol, but the votes mean more now as they are held in the full chambers. We will start having subcommittees again, soon, as the bills go to the opposite side of the building. Stay engaged and use emails, text messages or phone calls to communicate with your legislators.
Have a great weekend.
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