Relating to the employment rights of public school employees and officials relating to student exercise of free expression in public schools and providing remedies

22 provides that public school students have the right to exercise freedom of speech, including the right of expression in official school publications, with exceptions for materials that are obscene, libelous, or slanderous, or encourage students to commit unlawful acts, violate lawful school regulations, or cause the material and substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school. Prior restraint of permitted materials is prohibited. Expression made by students in the exercise of free speech shall not be deemed to be an expression of school policy, and a public school is not liable for such expression. This bill provides that a public school employee or official shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred, subject to termination or nonrenewal of a teaching contract or an extracurricular contract, or otherwise retaliated against for acting to protect a student for engaging in conduct authorized under Iowa law pertaining to freedom of expression of public school students, or refusing to infringe upon student conduct that is protected by such Iowa law, the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States, or Article I, section 7, of the Constitution of the State of Iowa. The bill modifies a requirement that journalism advisers of students producing official school publications supervise the production of the student staff to instead require that advisors maintain the production of the student staff.22 shall incorporate all of the provisions of that Code section.22. Such an action shall not expire upon a student’s graduation if a student is a plaintiff and the grounds for the action occurred while the student was enrolled in a public school.