Governor Kim Reynolds says she'll ask the State Legislature to waive instructional requirements for school districts in the wake of COVID-19

Posted: Mon, Mar 16, 2020 4:54 PM

(Photo courtesy of KCCI-TV)

Governor Kim Reynolds, at a 4:30 p.m. Monday news conference in Des Moines, told reporters she will ask the state legislature to waive the instructional time requirement in the wake of schools being closed for the next four weeks.

The move will "provide some relief" to local school districts, she said.

Earlier Monday, Decorah School Superintendent Mark Lane said, "If there is no change to Iowa law, or no plan for all or a portion of time missed to be forgiven, I expect we will need to make up the lost instructional time in the same way we make up for lost days due to weather." Reynolds said she will ask the state legislature to pass the waiver this week.

Also Monday afternoon, Reynolds said the state is studying additional financial assistance to child care workers. She said the additional assistance is necessary in order to ramp up child care capacity in Iowa--something that is necessary during the four weeks school districts are closed.

The governor reported that one more positive case has been confirmed--this one in Dallas County in suburban Des Moines. She says a second shift has been added for testing at the state hygienic lab, meaning the lab can do 108 tests a day now, with most results within 24 hours. Some tests have also been run by national labs, but those tests can take a little longer.