Senate File 517 - Introduced SENATE FILE 517 BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION (SUCCESSOR TO SF 221) A BILL FOR An Act relating to child abuse and employees and agents of 1 public schools and nonpublic schools. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 1100SV (1) 91 dg/ko
S.F. 517 Section 1. Section 232.68, Code 2025, is amended by adding 1 the following new subsections: 2 NEW SUBSECTION . 7A. Nonpublic school means the same as 3 defined in section 280.2. 4 NEW SUBSECTION . 8A. Public school means the same as 5 defined in section 280.2. 6 Sec. 2. Section 232.68, subsection 8, Code 2025, is amended 7 by adding the following new paragraph: 8 NEW PARAGRAPH . e. An employee or agent of any public school 9 or nonpublic school. 10 Sec. 3. Section 232.71B, subsection 7, Code 2025, is amended 11 to read as follows: 12 7. Facility or school visit. The assessment may include a 13 visit to a facility providing care to the child named in the 14 report or to any public or private school or nonpublic school 15 subject to the authority of the department of education where 16 the child named in the report is located. The administrator of 17 a facility, or a public or private school or nonpublic school 18 shall cooperate with the child protection worker by providing 19 confidential access to the child named in the report for the 20 purpose of interviewing the child, and shall allow the child 21 protection worker confidential access to other children for the 22 purpose of conducting interviews in order to obtain relevant 23 information. The child protection worker may observe a child 24 named in a report in accordance with the provisions of section 25 232.68, subsection 3 , paragraph b . A witness shall be present 26 during an observation of a child. Any child aged ten years of 27 age or older can terminate contact with the child protection 28 worker by stating or indicating the childs wish to discontinue 29 the contact. The immunity granted by section 232.73 applies 30 to acts or omissions in good faith of administrators and their 31 facilities or school districts for cooperating in an assessment 32 and allowing confidential access to a child. 33 Sec. 4. Section 232.71B, Code 2025, is amended by adding the 34 following new subsections: 35 -1- LSB 1100SV (1) 91 dg/ko 1/ 7
S.F. 517 NEW SUBSECTION . 21. Board of educational examiners 1 notice. The department shall report the results of a child 2 abuse assessment to the board of educational examiners created 3 in section 256.146 if all of the following circumstances apply: 4 a. The alleged perpetrator is an employee or agent of any 5 public school or nonpublic school. 6 b. The alleged perpetrator holds a license, certificate, 7 authorization, or statement of recognition issued by the board 8 of educational examiners. 9 c. The department issues a finding that the alleged child 10 abuse meets the definition of child abuse. 11 NEW SUBSECTION . 22. School district board of directors and 12 nonpublic school authorities notice. The department shall 13 report the results of a child abuse assessment to the board 14 of directors of a public school district, or the authorities 15 in charge of a nonpublic school, if all of the following 16 circumstances apply: 17 a. The alleged perpetrator is an employee or agent of a 18 public school under the authority of the board of directors, or 19 an employee or agent under the authority of the authorities in 20 charge of a nonpublic school. 21 b. The department issues a finding that the alleged child 22 abuse meets the definition of child abuse. 23 Sec. 5. NEW SECTION . 232.71E School procedures 24 rulemaking authority. 25 1. The department of health and human services, in 26 consultation with the department of education, shall adopt 27 rules pursuant to chapter 17A prescribing procedures the board 28 of directors of each school district and authorities in charge 29 of each nonpublic school shall adopt, pursuant to section 30 280.17, for the handling of reports of child abuse alleged to 31 have been committed by an employee or agent of a public school 32 or nonpublic school. 33 2. Rules adopted under this section shall include but not be 34 limited to all of the following: 35 -2- LSB 1100SV (1) 91 dg/ko 2/ 7
S.F. 517 a. A public school or nonpublic school shall report child 1 abuse alleged to have been committed by an employee or agent of 2 a public school or nonpublic school to the department of health 3 and human services. 4 b. If child abuse alleged to have been committed by an 5 employee or agent of a public school or a nonpublic school 6 would, if true, constitute a criminal act harming a child, the 7 public school or nonpublic school shall also report the alleged 8 child abuse to law enforcement. 9 Sec. 6. Section 235A.15, subsection 2, paragraph c, Code 10 2025, is amended by adding the following new subparagraphs: 11 NEW SUBPARAGRAPH . (14) To the board of educational 12 examiners created in section 256.146, if the data concerns a 13 person that holds a license, certification, authorization, or 14 statement of recognition issued by the board of educational 15 examiners. 16 NEW SUBPARAGRAPH . (15) To the board of directors of a 17 public school district if the data concerns a person employed 18 or being considered for employment by the public school 19 district. 20 NEW SUBPARAGRAPH . (16) To the authorities in charge of 21 a nonpublic school as defined in section 280.2 if the data 22 concerns a person employed or being considered for employment 23 by the nonpublic school. 24 Sec. 7. Section 256.146, subsection 13, paragraph a, Code 25 2025, is amended to read as follows: 26 a. The board may deny a license to or revoke the license 27 of a person upon the boards finding by a preponderance of 28 evidence that either the person has been convicted of an 29 offense and the offense directly relates to the duties and 30 responsibilities of the profession or that there has been 31 a founded report of child abuse against the person . Rules 32 adopted in accordance with this paragraph shall provide that in 33 determining whether a person should be denied a license or that 34 a practitioners license should be revoked, the board shall 35 -3- LSB 1100SV (1) 91 dg/ko 3/ 7
S.F. 517 consider the nature and seriousness of the founded abuse or 1 offense in relation to the position sought, the time elapsed 2 since the offense was committed, the degree of rehabilitation 3 which has taken place since the incidence of founded abuse or 4 the commission of the offense, the likelihood that the person 5 will commit the same abuse or offense again, and the number 6 of founded abuses committed by or criminal convictions of the 7 person involved. 8 Sec. 8. Section 256.146, subsection 13, Code 2025, is 9 amended by adding the following new paragraph: 10 NEW PARAGRAPH . 0c. The board shall deny or revoke a 11 license, certification, authorization, or statement of 12 recognition of a person described by any of the following: 13 (1) The person is in the central registry for child abuse 14 information established in section 235A.14 as having committed 15 founded child abuse. 16 (2) The person was found to have committed an act that would 17 constitute child abuse as defined in section 232.68 in another 18 state or foreign jurisdiction. 19 Sec. 9. Section 280.17, Code 2025, is amended by striking 20 the section and inserting in lieu thereof the following: 21 280.17 Procedures for handling child abuse reports. 22 1. For purposes of this section: 23 a. Child abuse means the same as defined in section 24 232.68. 25 b. Child abuse assessment means a child abuse assessment 26 under section 232.71B. 27 2. a. The board of directors of a school district and the 28 authorities in charge of a nonpublic school shall prescribe 29 procedures in accordance with rules adopted by the department 30 of health and human services under section 232.71E for handling 31 reports of child abuse alleged to have been committed by an 32 employee or agent of the public school or nonpublic school. 33 b. The board of directors of a school district and the 34 authorities in charge of a nonpublic school shall exercise 35 -4- LSB 1100SV (1) 91 dg/ko 4/ 7
S.F. 517 due diligence in assisting the department of health and human 1 services, as requested by the department of health and human 2 services, with a child abuse assessment related to child abuse 3 alleged to have been committed by an employee or agent of the 4 public school or nonpublic school. 5 3. The board of directors of a school district and the 6 authorities in charge of a nonpublic school shall place 7 on administrative leave an employee or agent of the public 8 school or nonpublic school who is the subject of an ongoing 9 child abuse assessment. The employee or agent shall also be 10 prohibited from entering school property while subject to an 11 ongoing child abuse assessment. 12 4. The board of directors of a school district and the 13 authorities in charge of a nonpublic school shall terminate 14 the employment of an employee or agent of a public school or 15 nonpublic school if the board of directors or authorities in 16 charge receive a notice under section 232.71B, subsection 22, 17 that the employee or agent has committed founded child abuse. 18 EXPLANATION 19 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 20 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 21 This bill relates to child abuse and employees and agents of 22 public schools and nonpublic schools. 23 Under current law, the definition of child abuse in 24 Code section 232.68 is used for reporting child abuse to 25 the department of health and human services (HHS), for 26 performing assessments of child abuse reports, and for making 27 determinations as to whether a person committed child abuse. 28 With one exception, the acts or omissions which meet the 29 definition of child abuse only qualify as child abuse when 30 a person responsible for the care of a child commits the act 31 or omission. Under current law, the definition of a person 32 responsible for the care of a child does not include an 33 employee or agent of a public school or nonpublic school. 34 The bill defines public school and nonpublic school 35 -5- LSB 1100SV (1) 91 dg/ko 5/ 7
S.F. 517 for purposes of child abuse reporting, and adds employees and 1 agents of a public school or nonpublic school to the definition 2 of a person responsible for the care of a child. 3 The bill requires HHS to report the results of a child abuse 4 assessment to the board of educational examiners (BOEE) if 5 the alleged perpetrator is an employee or agent (employee) of 6 any public school or nonpublic school (school); the alleged 7 perpetrator holds a license, certificate, authorization, or 8 statement of recognition issued by the BOEE; and HHS issues a 9 finding that the alleged child abuse meets the definition of 10 child abuse. The bill contains similar language for required 11 notice to the board of directors of a public school district 12 (board) or the authorities in charge of a nonpublic school 13 (authorities) if the alleged perpetrator is an employee of a 14 school under the authority of the board or of the authorities. 15 The bill requires HHS to adopt rules, in consultation with 16 the department of education, to develop minimum procedures the 17 boards and authorities must adopt for the handling of reports 18 of child abuse alleged to have been committed by an employee 19 of a school. Such rules must include but not be limited to 20 requiring schools to report all child abuse alleged to have 21 been committed by an employee of a school to HHS; and requiring 22 schools to also report to law enforcement child abuse alleged 23 to have been committed by an employee of the school if the 24 alleged child abuse, if true, would constitute a criminal act 25 harming a child. 26 The bill allows the BOEE to access child abuse disposition 27 data if the data concerns a person that holds a license, 28 certification, authorization, or statement of recognition 29 issued by the BOEE. The bill also allows boards and 30 authorities the ability to access child abuse disposition data 31 if the data concerns a person employed or being considered for 32 employment by the board or authorities. 33 The bill requires the BOEE to deny or revoke the license, 34 certification, authorization, or statement of recognition 35 -6- LSB 1100SV (1) 91 dg/ko 6/ 7
S.F. 517 of a person who is in the central registry for child abuse 1 information as having committed founded child abuse, or was 2 found to have committed an act that would constitute child 3 abuse in another state or foreign jurisdiction. 4 The bill requires each board and authorities to prescribe 5 procedures, in accordance with rules adopted by HHS, for 6 the handling of reports of child abuse alleged to have been 7 committed by an employee of the school. 8 The bill requires each board and authorities to place an 9 employee on administrative leave if the employee is the subject 10 of an ongoing child abuse assessment. The employee shall also 11 be prohibited from entering school property while the employee 12 is subject to an ongoing child abuse assessment. 13 The bill requires a board or authorities to terminate the 14 employment of an employee if the board or authorities receive 15 notice that HHS has determined the employee has committed 16 founded child abuse, or found to have committed an act that 17 would constitute child abuse in another jurisdiction. 18 -7- LSB 1100SV (1) 91 dg/ko 7/ 7