(Radio Iowa) – Seventeen Republicans in the Iowa Senate are co-sponsoring a bill that would force every Iowa business to use the federal E-verify system to ensure every person they hire is a citizen or legal U.S. resident. Senator Julian Garrett, a Republican from Indianola, has tried since 2012 to get this bill passed in the Iowa legislature. “We ought to be I would think more concerned about the welfare of our citizens than people who are not citizens and who are not here legally,” Garrett says.

Garrett says the immigration plan President Biden has proposed makes this kind of state-level action more important. “If we do nothing, we’re probably very likely going to see an influx of new people coming in who are not here legally,” Garrett says, “and you know we can be overwhelmed — our institutions, our medical care and education and our welfare system.” Brad Hartkopf, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, says identity fraud is an issue in the E-Verify system, so it isn’t a fool proof way for businesses to discover if a potential employee is in the country illegally. “The penalties are very concerning to us, the second being a revocation of all business licenses,” Hartkoff says. “…We believe that’s pretty draconian.”

Dustin Miller, a lobbyist for auto dealers and other business interests, is raising concerns about a portion of the bill calling for state investigation of all citizen complaints that a business has hired an undocumented worker.  “That can really be used as a sword against competitors,” Miller says. Erica Johnson of the American Friends Service Committee says her group just helped a woman who was inaccurately flagged by the E-Verify system as an undocumented immigrant. “Rather than actually working to push federal leaders to reform our immigration system in a way that benefits our economy and treats immigrants and refugee workers with the dignity and respect that they deserve, ” she said, “it’s a divisive, anti-immigrant proposal that will end up harming minority communities in Iowa.”

Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, says the bill levels the playing field for businesses doing the right thing. “We have folks who are flouting the law and getting away with a competitive advantage they should not have,” Schultz says.  The bill is eligible for debate in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Members of the Atlantic School District’s Board of Education will hold an electronic work session 6-p.m. Wed., Jan. 27th, via livestream on You Tube. During their meeting, the Board will discuss:

• A Board interface with District Leadership Teams
• Upcoming Dates, including:
  • IASB Webinars: COVID-19 Remediation for Student Achievement – Feb. 2nd, 2021
  • Mental Health – February 9th, 2021
  • IASB Virtual Lobby Days: (Same topics as above, with dates set for Feb. 4th and 11th respectively)
  • The Board’s Regular Meeting – Feb. 10th, 2021 at 6-p.m.

(Radio Iowa) The governor’s plan to provide five-thousand dollar state scholarships to cover private school or home schooling expenses is being debated in the Iowa Senate this week. The plan would also stop administrators in five school districts with voluntary diversity plans from denying open enrollment transfers out of those districts. Logan Shine is one of Governor Kim Reynolds’ policy advisors. “We’re empowering parents with the ability to choose what’s best for their children,” Shine says.

Trish Wilger is executive director of Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education. “This is about giving parents the ability to choose what they feel works best for their child,” she says, “…putting parents in the driver’s seat, giving parent options.” The new state scholarships would be available for students living in the 34 Iowa public school districts with the lowest student test scores and high school graduation rates. Chuck Hurley of The Family Leader says the proposal is targeted at schools that aren’t doing well.

“What we really need to do with education policy, in our opinion, is be first and foremost concerned with the students’ outcomes,” Hurley says. “We should fund children and not particular systems and any public school that’s concerned about this bill, that doing a good job with the children should not have anything to fear.” Opponents far outnumbered supporters during an online public hearing this (Monday) morning. Betty Andrews, the president of the Iowa-Nebraska N-Double-A-C-P, says the governor’s plan will hurt public schools.

“This bill will potentially finance a cycle that could lead to segregation of Iowa schools,” she said, “…allowing wealthier families to flee public schools for less diverse charter or private schools and reducing funds for poor and minority students.” Jesse Howard, a member of the New London School Board, is a southeast Iowa district director for the Iowa Association of School Boards. He calls the scholarships “vouchers.”

“Vouchers represent a rural to urban shift of resources,” he says. “The survival of rural schools depends on adequate state funding…As one parent told me this weekend, this bill is going to create the wild west of public education and be the death of what we look at for quality public education.” Anderson Sainci (SAN-see), a member of the Dubuque Community School Board, says shifting state dollars to private schools will have a negative impact on poor, middle class and racial minorities.

“I hope our legislators will truly live by our goals and missions to do what’s best for all Iowans, not some,” he said. A Senate committee will start debating this plan late this (Monday) afternoon. The expectation is the full Senate will vote on it as soon as Thursday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A major winter storm is threatening to blanket parts of the middle of the country with more than a foot of snow, promising to disrupt travel and even closing some coronavirus testing sites. The snow that began in some parts of the Midwest Monday morning was forecast to stretch from central Kansas northeast to Chicago and southern Michigan throughout the day. Some of the heaviest snow was expected in southeast Nebraska and western Iowa.

Officials are urging drivers to stay off the roads. Several coronavirus testing sites in Nebraska and Iowa closed early on Monday because of the storm. Elsewhere, a major highway in California was closed as a storm moving across the Southwest dumped snow in the Tejon Pass between Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley.