Iowa Law Gives Teachers Power to Discipline Disruptive Students
Governor Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 2428 on June 1. The law grants teachers authority to discipline students who cause violent or non‑violent disruptions in classrooms.
Education Committee Chair Skylar Wheeler said the bill follows 2023 testimony from metro‑area teachers. They described daily fights and a lack of administrative support.
Testimony included a Des Moines teacher who reported daily hallway fights while the school claimed zero incidents. Veteran teachers said they were “kicked, punched, bitten and threatened.”
Parent Angela Stobel said her first‑grader witnessed a peer attempt to strangle a teacher. The school did not inform families until the end of the year.
Since the 2021‑2022 school year, Iowa classrooms recorded 1,714 injuries, 1,138 property‑damage incidents and 1,967 assaults. Violent incidents have climbed more than 300 % since 2016‑2017.
Wheeler said the law aims to protect teachers from retaliation and require joint meetings with superintendents, parents or school boards when addressing misconduct. He emphasized the need for swift action.
“We’re not going to be weak, we’re not going to sweep things under the rug,” Wheeler told The Federalist. He said this approach would stop schools from ignoring misconduct.
Erika Donalds of America First Policy Institute praised the legislation, saying it restores teacher authority lost under Obama‑era policies that “weaponized civil‑rights enforcement.” She noted the change returns power to educators.
Jennifer Weber of the Manhattan Institute warned that “restorative circles” often serve as rewards, citing a case where a student who threw a Chromebook at a teacher returned to class within minutes. She added that schools spent $97 million on similar ineffective approaches.
Weber argued that clear expectations and consistent consequences, not racial considerations, ensure equity. She pointed to a former disruptive student who graduated after teachers applied traditional discipline.
Wheeler said the bill draws on Alabama and Louisiana examples but relies mainly on local stakeholders, emphasizing legal protection for teachers to speak up without fear of retaliation. He stressed that empowering teachers is the key to addressing classroom behavior.
Libby Bandelin is a reporting and editing intern at The Federalist with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. A recent graduate from Dordt University, she earned her B.A. in communications with an emphasis in journalism and a minor in criminal justice. In college, she served as chief editor for her student newspaper, and her writing won third place in the 2026 Cordell Prize. She’s also attended journalism intensives with WORLD newsgroup and Alliance Defending Freedom.
