Week Nine: Education and social media

By Jon Dunwell

On Thursday, the Iowa House voted to raise starting teacher’s salaries to $47,500 for the 2024-25 school year and to $50,000 for the 2025-26 school year. $47,500 would make Iowa’s starting teacher pay 12th in the nation and $50,000 would make Iowa fifth. With Iowa having the fifth lowest cost of living among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Iowa’s starting teachers would have more purchasing power than almost any other state.

The House also voted to increase the minimum wage for education support staff, often referred to as “para-educators,” to $15 per hour. The legislation provides $14 million to cover the additional cost. To address School Districts’ concern about the impact of the new starting salaries upon existing salary schedules, the House voted to allocate an additional $22 million in Teacher Supplemental Support. Furthermore, the House voted to raise the Governor’s proposed State Supplemental Aid from 2.5 percent to 3 percent, giving schools more flexibility in dealing with their salary needs. These additional allocations are recurring.

All-in-all, the Iowa House has voted to provide more than 4.5 percent additional funding for Iowa’s public schools. I am so thankful to the Governor for starting this conversation. I’m hoping the Senate will keep it going.

In a bipartisan manner, the House also passed a bill to help parents and kids navigate the ever-changing world of social media. As social media has become more popular, we’ve seen the mental health of children decline. It negatively impacts our kids’ self-esteem, resulting in cyberbullying, and exposing our kids to inappropriate content. It’s tough for parents to keep up with all the new trending social media apps.

HF 2255 requires social media apps to get parental permission before anyone under the age of 18 can create an account on their platform. Under this bill, it would be against the law for social media companies to gather data on kids without permission from parents. Ultimately, this bill puts parents back in the driver’s seat when it comes to their kids’ data and the impact social media can have on their mental health.

Let’s keep the conversation going!