After the first funnel in the current legislative session, Iowa House Representative for District 23 Ray Sorensen is happy to see one bill go through.
Sorensen says that he and Representative for District 59 Sharon Steckman each drafted a bill after hearing requests from the Iowa Youth Congress, and the House ended up going with Steckman’s version of the bill, but Sorensen is glad to see it pass through the first funnel either way. The bill would ask school boards to allow a non-voting student seat on the board. Sorensen mentions that when it was originally written, the bill said shall allow, which the Iowa School Board Association wasn’t too happy about, but that an amendment will change the wording to be more along the lines of “shall offer” instead.
He tells Raccoon Valley Radio why he’s glad the bill made it through the first funnel
“It’s often been said a lot of what the school board decides at these meetings directly affects these students, and they don’t have an official seat at the table. Of course, they are public meetings that anyone can attend, but it’s just been something that the Iowa Youth Congress has brought up for many years in different versions, in different ways. And I just see it as a tip of the hat, a sign of respect. Kind of a bridge building, like, ‘We see you young adults as someone to be respected.’ And (they) honestly have just a straight line of what’s going on in the high school, a representative of sorts that can say, ‘This is how we see it as students, as what’s happening.’”
Sorensen adds that once the bill has been amended, he’d like the position it offers to be more like an advisor role. School boards would be able to approve of who would have the seat, so that it would be someone that is worthy of it and would be able to let the school board know what is going on at the school from the student’s perspective. He adds that the position wouldn’t allow the student to sit in on closed sessions, or during talks on disciplinary matters for administration or staff should those come up.