Rep Helena Hays Capitol Update – March 13, 2025
Week 9
Thank you to the Thomas and Nikki of Keokuk County for your support over the past year. These young people attended one of last years Hayes for House Meet and Greets in Sigourney and participated in the adult conversation with the greatest of patience and interest. As participants in their recent Taekwondo tournament, they helped spread the word and support for their State Representative. Thank you Thomas and Nikki!
Week nine has brought a sense of calm to the Capitol building. With the first funnel week over, we are settling into the routine of caucusing and debating bills everyday. Our mornings start with prayer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the daily fall of the gavel. Then we head to caucus for discussions on the bills eligible for debate before we proceed to the House chamber, usually hours later, to cast our votes. Many bills this week received a mix of votes from both parties but overwhelmingly, most bills passed off the floor unanimously. Without regular committees scheduled now, it loosens up up our routine and allows for more time with visitors so if you are planning a capitol visit, the coming weeks work well. Give me a heads up and I would love to meet up with you.
Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Pilot Program for Schools
On Monday, March 10, 2025, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) issued a press release in which Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced the launch of the Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Program for Schools. The pilot program aims to connect Iowa schools with Choose Iowa members to encourage school food service programs to buy more ingredients and serve more products sourced from local farmers and small businesses. The school pilot program was authorized during the 2024 legislative session and is an initiative of Choose Iowa, the state’s branding and marketing program that identifies and promotes Iowa grown, raised and made food, beverages and ag products.
Eligible products include meat and poultry, dairy products (other than milk), eggs, honey and produce. To be eligible for funding, schools must purchase food from a Choose Iowa member. If schools wish to purchase from specific Iowa farmers, they should encourage those farmers or businesses to apply to become a Choose Iowa member. Members will also enjoy a variety of benefits beyond being eligible to participate in this Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Pilot. Food hubs that are Choose Iowa members are also eligible for food purchases within the program. Products purchased through food hubs must come from Iowa producers.
Additional details on the school pilot program can be found on the Choose Iowa website.
Newsletter Series: School Performances in District 88
Week 4 – Pekin Community School
For the upcoming weeks, I will continue to highlight the performance of one school in my district per week and culminate with a side-by-side comparison in the end. This week, Pekin Community School District is featured. Each chart presents only a very small portion of all the data that is available to you regarding how this public school is performing as compared to other schools in Iowa. (This graphic will be too small if you open this on a mobile device so, please be sure to review them on a larger screen.)
Things to keep in mind as you read the charts:
What exactly does “Proficiency” mean?
On the above chart, the “percent proficient” refers to the different levels of student achievement on assessments, such as standardized tests. These levels are used to indicate how well a student has mastered the content being tested.
Proficiency is divided into three categories:
Basic level: The student may show limited understanding or may struggle to apply the concepts.
Proficient level: The student demonstrates solid understanding and is able to apply the concepts accurately.
Advanced level: The student shows a deeper understanding and is capable of applying the concepts in more complex ways.
The process of determining these levels involves setting benchmarks for the assessments that align with the state’s academic standards. Each performance level helps educators understand the specific areas in which students are excelling or need more support, allowing for more targeted instruction.
The interpretative guide published by Iowa Testing Programs includes a high level overview of the results. There are also detailed performance level descriptors for English Language and Mathematics available for educators to provide specific detail by grade level and content area.
What does “Overall Performance Rating” Mean?
An important update to the accountability framework is how overall scores are calculated. Recently, a new point system was created with the hopes of making scores more transparent and easily understood. Elementary schools can receive up to 700 points. In order to accommodate graduation rate and the postsecondary readiness indicators, high schools can receive up to 900 points. To account for these point differences, a measure of the percentage of points earned was implemented to be able to have a common scale for all schools.
At a high level, each indicator is measured on a 100-point scale. As an example, if a school had an overall proficiency rate of 80, the school receives 80 points for that measure. The technical guide has more information about the scoring system.
School district spending formulas are quite complicated because there are many sources of funding flowing into schools. Let’s begin with introducing you to a site where you can compare how much your school spends compared to all other Iowa schools. Click HERE.
The useful graph above displays student movement through open enrollment. Briefly, the green color tones indicate school districts that are gaining students while the red tones indicates school districts that are losing students due to open enrollment.
Expanding Health Care Access In Iowa
Like every state in the nation, Iowa is dealing with a shortage of doctors and healthcare staff, rising costs of care, and the need to ensure access to quality services in rural and underserved areas of our state. This week, we passed three pieces of legislation related to health care workforce challenges that address the many different sides of this issue.
House File 516 aims to make it more likely that the health care professionals who are educated and trained in Iowa stay in Iowa to provide care. This bill will do that in the following ways:
Requires the University of Iowa medical school and dental school to have at least 80% of their students be residents in Iowa or enrolled in an Iowa community college prior to acceptance.
Requires the University of Iowa to submit an annual report on the state of residence of each graduate of the medical and dental school in the year immediately following graduation and their residence before acceptance to the program. It also asks for the same information on UIHC medical residents.
Codifies language to require medical residencies at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinic to give priority to applicants that have an Iowa connection. It also requires primary care residencies like family medicine, OB, psych and internal medicine at UIHC to provide the opportunity to participate in a rural rotation.
Requires the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics to offer an interview for the medical residences of some of the most-needed specialties in Iowa to those with an Iowa connection.
This bill focuses our state-funded medical school on making intentional efforts to address the workforce needs of Iowa. Right now, not enough of these graduates are staying here in Iowa to practice. From 2020 to 2024, 81% of Iowa natives graduating from the state medical school left to do their residency in another state. In 2024, UIHC residents only remained in Iowa at 44% after completing their program. The data shows that if you complete medical school and your residency in one state, you’re more likely to stay in that state and practice there.
House File 386 requires the University of Iowa and Des Moines University to study the feasibility of transitioning their programs to three-year programs. I recognize that a three-year program may not make sense for every medical degree. However, there may be some that can be done over three years, saving the student money and getting that provider into the workforce providing care sooner. Currently in code, there are enhanced penalties for assaulting a person engaged in certain occupations, including “health care providers.”
House File 310 expands the definition of health care providers to include anyone working, volunteering, or participating in an educational course in a hospital or nursing home. Unfortunately, this is a bill that has become increasingly necessary as we’ve heard from providers about more assaults happening on the health care workforce. This is just one thing we can do in the Iowa Legislature to try and ensure the safety of those who are trying to provide care.
Photos from the Week
It was a great pleasure this week to welcome back legislators that I served my first term with including former House member, Luana Stoltenberg of Davenport. Here we are pictured with Representative Barb Kniff-Mc Culla of Pella and Representative Cindy Golding of Cedar Rapids.
A great showing of pastors from Southeast Iowa traveled to the Capitol this week to meet with legislators, encourage them and of course, ask them how they could pray for them. This men were from Mount Pleasant and Eldon and included the spouse of a former neighbor and 4-H member. Congrats Olivia on the careful choice you made!
Members from across the state of the Soil and Water Conservation made their annual visit this week including Steve De Jong form Mahaska County and Ray Woody from Jefferson County. We enjoyed our great discussion of the legislative priorities for conservationist in southeast Iowa.
Our meetings and receptions often involve dignitaries from other countries, including this dynamic and well spoken Senator from Ireland, Mark Daily.
Upcoming Events
Fairfield Chamber of Commerce Legislative Forum at the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center (200 North Main St. Fairfield, IA)
will take place on these dates:
March 15 – 7:30-9:00am
Eggs & Issues at Smokey Row Oskaloosa (109 S Market St. Oskaloosa, IA) will take place on these dates:
March 22 – 8:30-9:30am
If you have any questions about these events, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Forums and events will be posted on my Facebook page as well as here in the newsletter!
Contact
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have. I love to hear from you and want to represent you accurately!
Website: https://www.helenaforhouse.com
Email: helena.hayes@legis.iowa.gov
Phone: 515.281.3221
Donation Information: https://www.helenaforhouse.com/donate
