State:
The Iowa Department of Education has released a “letter to the field” in which they summarize legislation that passed during the 2026 legislative session. The legislation is broken up by the state’s education system priorities: supporting the teacher pipeline, strengthening early literacy and numeracy, narrowing gaps, empowering multiple pathways to success, and promoting safe and healthy work environments. This provides an easy way to find what legislation passed, and its impact, depending on your area of interest. In addition to the legislation summaries, the “letter” also includes summaries of the appropriations, related but not education specific legislation, vetoed legislation, and resources for implementing the more significant legislation that was passed. Future rounds of implementation resources for other bills may be released, and the document will be updated to reflect these additional resources.
The State Board of Education, during their August 13 meeting, released the Notice of Intended Action (NIOA) to amend Chapter 21. The proposed rulemaking is to implement House File 2610, which passed during the 2026 legislative session and establishes a statewide common course numbering system and a statewide lower division general education framework for Iowa community colleges. The proposed rules establish processes for identifying equivalent courses, assigning common course numbers, developing common course descriptions and learning outcomes, and implementing a common lower division general education framework. A public hearing on the proposed rules will take place September 22, from 8:00-9:00am. Interested individuals can make public comment at the hearing or provide written comment up until September 22 at 4:30pm.
Make sure you are signed up for Quorum to stay up to date on all things government relations and legislative session. This is our grassroots advocacy platform that helps you keep up to date with what we’re tracking during session, send messages to your legislators on important issues, and get involved with advocating for your college and community! We will be launching another “sign-up drive” asking you to have your friends and colleagues register as everyone returns to campus from summer, so keep an eye out for that. Thank you to all who have already signed up. Your strong support and engagement throughout this past legislative session ensured that the voice of community colleges was heard.
Federal:
The U.S. Congress is currently in its August recess. This is a time when federal lawmakers get to return to their home states to engage with their constituents, highlight the accomplishment they made throughout the session, and campaign ahead of the upcoming elections. This is a great opportunity for community college leaders to establish and build up your relationships with your members of Congress.
U.S. Department of Education Call to Action: Early last week, on August 3rd, the U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon issued a national call to action to university presidents and governing boards to drive essential reforms in higher education. Yesterday, August 12, the American Association of Community Colleges and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities provided a joint response sharing their perspectives on the call to action. In response, they outline the many ways that our institutions are already committed to carrying out the very actions called for in the letter and enjoy higher public confidence and trust thanks to their focus on student success. You can read more of their response here.
Appropriations: The Federal fiscal year ends on September 30. To avoid a government shutdown, Congress must either pass their appropriation bills for the next federal fiscal year, or a continuing resolution (CR) bill, commonly called a stopgap bill which provides short-term funding to the government, before September 30. Given that neither chamber is close to passing their appropriation bills, both instead passed their own CR bill prior to leaving for the August recess. The House’s bill provides funding through December 4, whereas the Senate’s bill provides funding through December 11 and includes a provision to block the Office of Management and Budget proposed rules on federal grantmaking. The chambers are scheduled to return early- and mid-September, and we can expect conversations around this to pick back up.
Although the immediate focus is on the continuing resolutions, work on the appropriation bills is still ongoing. One of the most pressing issues for Higher Education is the Pell Grant program facing a cumulative $16.9B budget shortfall for FY26 and FY27, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This is particularly important for Iowa because nearly 1 in 4 Iowa college students are on a Pell Grant. Unfortunately, we are unlikely to see any decisions regarding FY27 funding until December of this year.
Accreditation Negotiated Rulemaking: The proposed rule on Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization is expected to be noticed any day in the next couple of weeks for public comment, with final regulations anticipated by November 1. The proposed rules are expected to include the May consensus language. Which included the following recommendations:
- Easier for institutions to change accreditors
- Greater competition among accrediting agencies
- New expectations for transfer credit and prior learning
- Additional emphasis on academic freedom and research integrity
- New rule would start July 1, 2027.
Transfer of Programs out of ED: The House Education and Workforce Committee previously approved a package of 10 bill that would codify the shift of U.S. Department of Education programs to other federal agencies. Excluded from these bills was the transfer of the ED civil rights enforcement to the DOJ and special education to HHS. We are unlikely to see approval from the Senate on these changes.