(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is among more than two-thirds of the states that have no state program requiring paid parental leave for teachers. The report from The National Council on Teacher Quality found just two states offer required fully-paid parental leave for teachers up to 12 weeks. Another 14 states have some other kind of required paid leave, while seven have optional programs. Council president Heather Peske says research shows paid parental leave can reduce turnover.

Peske says, “Specifically when it comes to teachers, we know from national research and national surveys that many teachers rank ‘encouraged family support’ as one of their top three incentives to recruit and retain them.” Peske says without paid parental leave, teachers struggle to balance the demands of their job with their family, and some teachers simply chose to quit. “What this means is that teachers have to hoard their sick days or try to plan to have children in the summer,” she says, “because the state doesn’t offer paid parental leave for teachers.”

An Iowa law went into effect last year that offers state employees up to four weeks of paid parental leave, but it does -not- include teachers as they are employees of their school districts, not the state.