A Republican-sponsored bill advanced in the Iowa Senate Tuesday that would no longer require schools to hire nurses or librarians.
School districts can still hire nurses and librarians, but the bill strikes out the sections of code that makes it mandatory for schools to have these positions.
"This bill is about returning the authority to local school boards, local administrators and local teachers to make the decisions that make the most sense for their classrooms," Said Republican Senator Amy Sinclair in an interview with the Des Moines Register. Sinclair leads the Senate Education Committee.
The bill would also no longer require schools to collect data on whether students have had vision and dental screenings or blood tests. Emily Piper, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of School Boards, told The Gazette that the current mandate is redundant.
"Health care providers are required to provide that information to the state’s public health department" Piper said. “Our intention is ... to better focus our attention and our energies.”
Some are concerned that without the mandate, students who do not get the required medical tests may slip through the cracks. Others are concerned that students would not earn important skills if they're no longer in contact with librarians.
Karla Kreuger, a professor in the University of Northern Iowa's College of Education, said that librarians have important contact with every studentin a school
“They are teaching students important skills that makes them better readers,” she told Radio Iowa. “It also makes them better writers and researchers.”
